The Sand of Hourglasses
by nonsense-kouyou
Summary: HIATUS. (WARNING THEMES OF SUICIDE) AU where things went differently. Izuku never went to the scene where Bakugou was almost killed. After the rooftop incident, All Might didn't see him again. This story is one about learning and appreciating. And Izuku begins from zero, on a sunny day, when his plans to commit suicide are foiled by the unexpected manifestation of his quirk: ESP.
1. Prologue

WARNING! THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS THEMES OF SUICIDE AND BULLYING! DO NOT READ IF YOU ARE EASILY AFFECTED!

I want all you guys who will read it to appreciate your lives more at the end of the chapter, so don't read if you think that it will make you have negative thoughts instead. SERIOUSLY, DON'T!

Also, Izuku here has glasses. And ESP powers... Yeah, that was a random idea, I know.

So, a few clarifications; this story was inspired by a video uploaded on youtube by Lycoperdon. The title is:Watashi no R (My R) BNHA PV - English Subs

Lycoperdon did a wonderful illustration. Go check out the video.

Izuku has glasses only for this chapter. Because of the video and all... Later on, he won't need them.

Ok, enjoy!

* * *

Come to think of it, he had had the opportunity to enjoy a similar view when he had hanged on to All Might's leg a few weeks ago, fueled by passion and excitement. The cars looked like tiny colourful sprinkles from up there and the buildings were merely matchboxes. Yes, from that height, everything seemed more interesting. He could view the horizon clearly. A bright orange blob was gradually sinking into the earth, the few puffy clouds had turned pink like sakura blossoms, the sky at the edges a soft purple. A beautiful scene indeed.

Izuku slipped his shoes off slowly, not hurrying at all. There was no reason to hurry after all. There was nobody to stop him there, on that roof high above the ground, where the wind lashed out at his tiny, frail body with all its force, ruffling his green hair. There was nobody to prevent it.

He hadn't prevented anything either. He had cause trouble for everyone instead. He had stalled All Might with his childish questions and stubbornness. Because of him, All Might had lost the villain, who rampaged freely in the streets after that. Because of him, Kacchan was in the hospital in a coma and no one knew when he'd wake up, if he would wake up at all.

All Might had said it. Izuku's classmates had said it. The teachers had said it. The doctors had said it. He, himself, had admitted it as well. His mother had tried to hide it from their daily lives, a desperate attempt to erase it. But the fact was there, plain as day.

Izuku would never become a hero.

He was jealous of them all, those quirk kids that had the chance to be whatever they wanted. They had always been superior. He could never be their equal. There was no equality in the world.

He thought of all those times his notebooks had been thrown into the water, or shredded to pieces, all the times he had found scribbling of cusses on his desk, all the times someone had started teasing him in the middle of break and made him drop his lunchbox, all the times he had been put against a wall and forced to endure harsh comments and humiliation, all those times he had been kicked for no apparent reason, all those times-

Izuku gingerly touched his bruised cheek. Somebody had thought it funny to hurl a chair into his face. He was glad that he wouldn't have to give an explanation for it at home.

He hated the world for being unequal. But most importantly, he hated himself for being a worthless piece of shit for thinking like that. All Might would never hate the rest of the world for such a selfish reason. That's exactly what Izuku couldn't take; all the negativity that had started to build up inside him ever since the day that he was made to see the truth.

Izuku took off his yellow cardigan. It was his favourite, a gift from his mother for Christmas. He wouldn't want it to be stained or splattered by anything. The boy neatly folded the cardigan and placed it on the smooth grey floor, right next to his shoes. The cold seeped in through the white, thin fabric of the shirt he was wearing underneath. He didn't shiver.

His glasses, round and nerdy as they may have looked, were expensive. Although nobody could ever use them, it just wouldn't sit right with him to know that he had wasted a good pair of glasses. So Izuku took them off as well and placed them on top of the cardigan.

He looked at the three possessions that lay on the ground, almost waiting to be put in a suitcase. But where he was going, he couldn't bring anything with him. Izuku nodded to himself with satisfaction.

His fingers ran the surface of the metal blue railing for a moment. It was chilly, electric to the touch, he noticed. Then he put his leg on top and pulled himself up as if climbing over a fence.

Now he was on the outside side of the railing. He wriggled his toes in the air. Only his heels supported his weight. He was still holding onto the railing behind him.

Izuku's dark green eyes were fixated on the ground below. He could barely make out the cars that rushed past each other in the opposite lanes without his glasses, let alone the people.

He was not afraid. One of the quirks that he would have liked to have was that of flying. At least he would be able to experience that free-falling sensation he had always dreamed about for those last seconds.

His muscles relaxed. Izuku's grip on the blue railing loosened. His body leaned forward.

Izuku fell, silently, slipping away.

.

He never reached the ground.

.

Izuku was still on the rooftop. The sky was the same colors. The wind was beating him down with the same intensity. His cardigan, glasses, and shoes, were nowhere to be found.

There was someone else, standing next to him. A teenager, maybe a bit younger than him, wearing a typical black school uniform.

"Hey. Lovely view isn't it?" the teenager greeted, but no smile showed on his face.

Izuku blinked several times. "I'm not dead," he mumbled with wide eyes.

The teenager shrugged. "If you say so. Want to hear me out? I've been having some problems lately."

"Problems," Izuku repeated blankly.

"Yeah. My grades are horrible. My cat died. My parents got a divorce."

"… I'm sorry to hear that."

"Going to school got tough as well, you know. It doesn't feel nice to be stared at and called weird names."

"…"

Izuku tried to make sense of the boy's stiff face. But the teenager never turned to look at him.

"I don't like being unwanted by everyone, so I decided to put an end to it all. No more beatings for me. This is my revenge against those damn bullies. That's my story. That's why I'm here. What are you here for?"

"Me?"

"Man, you're a slow-thinker, aren't you? Never mind, I bet your reason is not as cruel and selfish as mine. You seem like one of those nice guys that are all smiles and fake facades. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing bad about that. I mean, I used to be like you before."

The teenager grabbed the railing with determination. Izuku watched with a horrified expression.

"Wh-what do you think you're…?"

"What else? I'm jumping of course. Isn't this what you're here for too?"

Izuku shook his head violently. "But I already… I already jumped! I don't understand!" he looked up at the teenager with irritation and confusion.

"Well, what the hell do I know? I'm not here to solve your problems. There was nobody there to solve mine either. There never is."

' _This is not right'_ , Izuku thought as the teenager climbed the railing. It was not right at all. That teenager was still breathing. He was a perfectly healthy child. He had a future ahead of him. He had so many chances and paths to choose from ahead of him. That teenager was going to kill all of that. A life was going to be taken, right before his eyes.

Izuku's very being denied it. He could not stand by and do nothing. He could not allow someone else other than himself to die.

"Wait! Don't do it!" Izuku cried out and reached out for the boy's arm.

But his hand passed right through the teenager's wrist, as if Izuku was a ghost. His fingers closed around nothingness. The boy slipped away from his hand like a wet fish.

" _It's already too late for that, don't you think, Midoriya Izuku?"_

.

Izuku yelped.

The teenager had disappeared. A grown-up man, probably in the age of forties, was leaning on the railing exactly where the teenager had been previously standing, and smoking a cigarette. He glanced at Izuku with a thin smile.

"Hello there, kid. What are you doing out here? It's cold."

Izuku just stood there speechlessly. His heart was still racing in his chest.

The man's brown eyes fell on the boy's bare feet. His eyelids twitched somewhat unpleasantly and he blew a puff of ill-selling smoke which was carried away by the strong breeze.

"I see. So that's what you're here for. What a shame. You've got a whole life ahead of you."

"Excuse me sir… Do you know what's going on?"

"Now that's a good question." He tapped his cigarette on the railing, and the black, burned bit broke off and fell into the void below. "Would you mind… If I shared some things with you, kid?"

Izuku didn't feel certain that replying was okay. But he gently nodded. There was nothing else to do about the situation anyway. If he listened, he could ask questions about what was going on later.

"My daughter is not in this world anymore." The man announced and paused to put the cigarette back in his mouth.

Izuku felt cold, much colder than before. He remained silent, looking down at his feet.

"She was only seven. A little angel. Very clever kid. She sang all day, even though she didn't know the actual lyrics. My wife and I loved her more than anything. She hated green peppers but liked the red ones for some reason. She wanted chocolate cake for her birthday, with strawberries on top. And pink napkins for the guests. Always pink. All her dolls have pink dresses."

The man let out another puff of smoke. He was staring at the descending sun calmly, but his mind was lost in the sand of an hourglass.

"It was five months ago. An accident, they said. The driver was drunk."

Izuku's lower lip trembled. He didn't dare look at the man's face. He knew that nothing he said would change anything.

"You're thinking that there's nothing you can say, aren't you?"

His breath caught in his throat.

"It's ok kid. Don't let my troubles affect you. Well then, it's time for me to go."

"Go? Where? Why?" Izuku asked with a cracked voice. The man had climbed over the railing during his talk, but he had just noticed.

The man frowned. "You're making me have second thoughts right now. If I jump, you're not going to do anything stupid, are you? Think about your parents for a bit. Think about the pain you will be causing them. Don't do anything stupid, you hear me?"

"Please, don't do it! Please listen to those second thoughts!" Izuku yelled. "What about your wife?"

The man released the railing.

' _You didn't listen to your second thoughts either, Midoriya Izuku'_

.

"No… Not this again!" Izuku cried out, collapsing on the floor.

A hand ran through Izuku's hair, sliding onto his face to shield his eyes from the world. He could tell by the cold gust of wind that crept up his back that he was still on the rooftop.

"What a coincidence!" a blissful, female voice sounded.

Izuku slowly raised his head, giving a battered glare at the girl that stood before him. A pucker appeared between his eyebrows. She was wearing a yellow cardigan, similar to the one that his mother had given him. His mother… Who was probably waiting for him to return home. She had probably cooked another delicious dinner again. To think that he would never again taste her cooking.

"Eh? Why are you crying?" the girl asked with a concerned frown.

"Why wouldn't I be crying? Of course I would be crying!" Izuku snapped suddenly.

"You're no good with conversation starters, are you?"

"Just let me go… please let me go. I do not want to feel bad anymore."

"Feeling bad is natural. It can't be helped."

"I… I'm so selfish…"

"Not just selfish. You're horrible. You're trying to kill a person."

"Kill a person? What are you talking about?"

"Who do you think I'm talking about?"

"I can't stand you people with your rhetorical questions! I can't stand it anymore! Just let me go…" he miserably cried, hitting the floor repeatedly with his fist.

The girl waited patiently for him to calm down, before speaking softly.

"I don't think that's what you want. Listen here, you bare-footed idiot. If you do this, you're going to regret it halfway. What did you feel when you saw all those people jump? You tried to stop them, didn't you? There are people that care about you. There are strangers that will care about you. There are doctors that will care about you. There is a future for you. So you have to care for it too. Isn't that a basic rule? What are you doing? How are you going to repay life?"

"…what do you think you know… just what do you think you know?" Izuku angrily bellowed.

Calmly, the pale girl showed him her arms, which she had been hiding behind her back for a while now, something that Izuku had assumed she was doing just to look cute.

The sleeves were drenched in red. Thick, crimson blobs were dripping from her fingers. Izuku felt his heart skip a beat. It hurt. He could feel his chest hurting.

"I know because I did it." She whispered.

Izuku felt like vomiting. He couldn't bear to look at her.

"I wanted to eat more candy. I wanted to see more flowers. I wanted to swim on more beaches. I wanted to laugh with my friends more. I wanted to hug my parents more. I wanted to play with snow more. I wanted to cook more. I wanted to sing and dance more. I wanted to play board games more. I wanted to run more. I wanted to talk more. I wanted to smile more. Why don't you return to your home, Midoriya Izuku? I think you've seen enough. You've learned your lesson."

And with that, the girl swiftly climbed over the railing and, like the others, got ready to let go.

"No… No… wait. Don't fall! Please don't fall!" Izuku cried with desperation. He got up and ran, ran with all his might. He would grab her hand and not let go, no matter what. He would save her.

She almost slipped away. Almost.

But his hand seized the warm-covered wrist. It was a firm contact.

Izuku leaned forward and pulled with all his strength. His teeth were showing from his effort. His muscles ached, but he paid them no mind. Saving the girl was all that mattered.

"Hang on! I'll save you! Just hang on!" the green-haired boy pleaded.

But he had leaned too much on the railing. He lost his balance. They fell together. Izuku screamed, holding the girl's body against his in an attempt to shield her from the fall.

He was terrified.

But they never reached the ground…

.

He opened his eyes and saw a filthy, light grey, the kind of grey that belonged to a sidewalk. He thought that, perhaps, this was the last thing he had seen before his death, that's why it wasn't moving any closer.

And then he noticed that there were other things. There were people all around, staring at him with raised eyebrows, surprised that somebody had fallen from the sky. There were cars passing by, and a dog was barking from a shop opposite the road.

Izuku was hovering a few inches above the ground.

And then it was over. He stopped hovering and his body crashed down with a painful bumping sound. He was still okay.

And then he noticed that, he wasn't actually okay. No, he wasn't okay at all. His limbs felt heavy. His lips were trembling. It felt like his heart would pop out of his chest any second, so rapidly that it was beating. There was blood on him, coming from wounds on his forearms that he didn't remember being inflicted on him. They seemed… oddly familiar. Why, they were the wound of the girl that he had tried to save.

A woman nearby cried out. People rushed to his side. The worried faces that blocked the sky were starting to get blurry. Somewhere far away, the siren of an ambulance echoed. Someone was holding his hand, whispering words of encouragement. _'Hang on, help's coming. Just hang on…'_

Izuku hadn't felt more scared in his life. He didn't want to die anymore. No, he just wanted to go eat dinner with his mum and see the updates at All Might's site.

He wanted his cardigan back now.

* * *

Ok, so you're probably confused and disappointed right now. What was with that ending?

Normal chapters will be longer than this. And better, I hope. Please tell me what you thought of the prologue.

Thank you for taking the time to read this.


	2. Chapter 1

Here you go, chapter 1. In case you're wondering, yes, I did write it in just one day and completely disregarded my studies. But updates won't be this frequent, generally speaking.

I'm so excited guys! Thanks to everyone who reviewed! So may reviews just from a prologue! I'm glad you found it interesting. Seeing your reviews makes me very happy because it reassures me that there is someone out there enjoying something that I make. You're all the motivation I need to sit my butt in a chair in front of my computer and start hitting the buttons of the keyboard. SO, A BIG, BIG THANKS!

Please forgive any careless mistakes, I was in a hurry to finish. Can you believe I spent eight hours writing this, and that I have to finish two projects fro tomorrow? Basically, I'm screwed. Oh, and I haven't taken a bath yet. Well, it was worth it!

I hope you like this chapter as well. Enjoy

* * *

The awful drowsiness made everything distant. He could sometimes hear mumbling, but it never made sense. Through half-closed eyes, he noticed bright flashes and figures. It was the doctors, trying to patch up the mess. Then another period of darkness. He couldn't move and didn't want to try to either. His body felt heavy.

Until finally, the tiredness went away.

Izuku took a deep breath and stirred. He could tell that he was lying somewhere soft and warm. The air had an acidic smell of drugs and sterilization. Someone's warm fingers had intertwined with his and were squeezing his hand tightly. His eyelids flickered with great effort. Izuku frowned.

An unknown ceiling of cream-coloured tiles loomed above him. Of course, the hospital…

His tongue was numb and there was a bland taste of sponge at the back of his throat. He tried to talk, but the vocal cords were still not ready to be strained, it seemed. Izuku slowly took in his surroundings.

A window at the right, with white curtains. A television on the opposite wall. The IV drop next to the comfy bed he was lying in. The sheets that were tangled around his body. The layers of bandages around his arms.

And then there was his sleeping mother. She had fetched a chair so that she could sit right next to him. Her hand was clutching his own with determination. No matter what, she was not going to let go of him, even when asleep. Her upper body had fallen on the edge of his pillow. Her mouth was slightly open and her head was at an awkward angle. It was an uncomfortable, light sleep that she was having. She had dozed off it seemed. For how long had she forced herself to stay awake by her son's side, holding that hand?

Izuku didn't care about the knot in his throat. He forced his voice to call for her. It was raspy, broken and weak.

"Mum?"

Her face contorted. The eyes shot open. Immediately, salty tears started to roll down her chubby cheeks. Her mouth opened and closed, making incoherent noises, until finally, she found the word she was looking for.

"Izuku? Izuku! Izuku, oh Izuku!"

She squeezed his hand and brought it to her face, rubbing it against her skin. Her shoulders were shaking uncontrollably from the violent sobs.

"Mum, it hurts…" he complained with a thin smile.

She gasped and let go of his arm. "I'm sorry! Oh, Izuku, I'm so sorry! I'm so very sorry!" she cried, over and over again.

"Mum, please don't cry. I'm fine now. I'm here now, Mum. I'm not going to leave you alone."

"Oh Izuku… I will do anything for you. Just tell me what's troubling you. We'll work together to fix it. Don't do that again. Don't do that ever again, Izuku. I love you so much, please, Izuku!"

Her slender fingers gently brushed away the bangs from his forehead.

"I won't do that ever again, Mum. I promise. It was stupid and scary. It was so scary."

She concealed her face with her hands, whimpering inconsolably like a child. Izuku was shocked to see the condition that she was in. He had almost broken her, deduced her to this miserable state. He didn't want to ever see his mother down on her knees. No, she was supposed to hold her head high, no matter what.

"I'm sorry Mum. I love you." He said, and despite the pain, stretched his arm to reach her. His fingers weakly pulled the hands away from the crying face, revealing the wide, puffy eyes that were the same green color as his own, like freshly-watered grass. She trembled at the cold touch.

"I wish I were a better mother to you, Izuku…" she mumbled.

"You are the best mother in the world."

"Then why? Why did I miss it? How could I have missed something so serious? You were suffering and I never noticed a thing…" she shook her head stubbornly.

"It wasn't serious or anything. I was just being childish. Selfish. Refusing to accept reality"

"Don't say that, Izuku. Of course it's serious. I already asked your teachers. They didn't give me the names, but I'm sure if we pursue the matter, we could even get the case to court, and-"

"Whoa, mum, slow down. I'm not suing anybody."

"Izuku, these kids did awful things to you. They could be doing it to others as well."

"It's not that, mum. It wasn't that from the start."

"Then what is it? What is it that I missed?"

He lowered his gaze to the white bandages around his arms. He could feel the wounds itch. "I'm just angry that people aren't born equal."

.

.

.

"He's telling the truth" The police officer with the green bug antennas that protruded from his head announced.

The other police officer, a man in his late forties, sighed heavily and closed his eyes. "I see. That means that we may be dealing with a new quirk. I want the records of any quirks that could possibly be behind this."

Izuku smiled politely to the two officers.

He had told them about the peculiar incident. How he had jumped from the rooftop but had found himself with lethal cuts in his arms instead. But he had purposefully excluded the meetings that he had had on that rooftop right after jumping.

A story that they wouldn't have believed, had it not been for the be-antenna-ed policeman that had the quirk of recognizing lies. A very useful quirk for the job he was in.

"Well then, young man. I wish you a fast recovery."

They got up and left without any more questions, to the relief of the nurses that had taken it upon themselves to shower Izuku with caring attention. They watched him like hawks when his mother was not around and had frequent chats with him. The reason was easy to guess.

Izuku sighed and rested the manga on his lap. He had already read it three times that day. There was nothing interesting on the television either. It had been utter boredom for the past couple of days.

He glared at the IV irritably. That thing restricted his movements even when going to the bathroom. He absolutely resented it.

"What's wrong, dear? Do you want to sleep? Should I turn it off?" One of the nurses, the one that appeared to be in charge of taking care of him, pointed to the colorful screen of the television. She was probably not any younger than his mother. Her hair was pitch black, and she had a very friendly smile.

"Nakajima-san… I don't feel particularly tired today. Could I go for a walk?"

She raised an eyebrow. "That didn't go very well yesterday, Midoriya-kun."

The other day, he had begged to go out, just a little, and Nakajima-san had escorted him. Unfortunately, he had fainted a few minutes later in the elevator, startling an old lady that was in there with him. It had taken a lot of patience to calm her down.

"Just a quick trip to the cafeteria. Please…" he pleaded, with his palms pressed together. "If I feel wobbly, I will tell you right away!"

Her eyes softened. She sighed. "I'm coming with you of course. If you start to get dizzy, I will put you in a wheelchair and roll you back here."

"Thank you very much!" he lowered his head with gratitude.

Izuku slowly sat up, with his legs hanging from the side of the bed. A second of dizziness passed ticked by and the world blurred back into definite shape. Nakajima-san fetched him some green slippers and put them on his feet for him. "You look pale already." She remarked.

He put his weight on his legs and stood up. Nakajima-san stood by his side worriedly, ready to support him if he were to lose his balance.

"How do you feel, dear?"

"It feels like my knees are made of spaghetti" He admitted with a guilty grin.

The steps he took were small and hesitant. Nakajima-san stayed right next to him, holding him gently. He held the IV pole with one arm and dragged it along, hunched over it slightly in an attempt to support himself. Everything in his body felt weak and unstable. He could pass out easily, now that there was less blood in running through his veins.

"I will hold you more tightly now, Midoriya-kun. I can't have you collapsing again." Nakajima-san announced once they reached the two metallic slide doors of the elevator.

He nodded absent-mindedly and the strength of the grip around his waist and shoulder increased. The two doors slid open and they entered.

Izuku shot a curious glance at the little kid that was already in there. He wore the green patient clothes and slippers. He was not dragging around an IV, nor was he escorted by anyone. The kid didn't appear to be older than ten. He was scrawny and frail, with pale skin and sharp features. But his eyes had a playful glint that belonged to all children.

The doors closed behind them and the elevator started to descend. He felt the effect right away. Black dots started to obscure his vision. The nurse patted his shoulder comfortingly.

Izuku was sure that Nakajima-san would say something to the child, but she remained silent and awfully cheerful. She didn't once turn towards the kid, completely ignoring him. She should have at least said hello and asked what he was doing, wandering around all alone.

Something was striking him as weird about that kid, but he couldn't exactly pinpoint what it was. He stared at it intensely, until finally, the kid took notice.

The little boy blinked with curiosity, then gave a toothy smirk and waved at him. Izuku smiled back awkwardly.

The elevator slowed down, preparing for a stop.

"We're not at ground level yet." Nakajima-san told him.

Izuku took a deep breath. He was already feeling dizzy. Just how many more seconds would he have to withstand that sensation?

Just as the doors slid open, a shrill, furious cry made both of them freeze into place. Many things happened at once.

A certain hot-tempered boy barged in with the most terrifying scowl of all time. He literally threw his IV into the elevator, almost hitting poor Izuku and the startled Nakajima-san, and started frantically pressing the button on the panel that would close the doors more quickly. He was panting and sweating, probably ready to fall down on his knees, but as he looked at the nurse that was running towards the elevator from the end of the corridor with a desperate cry, he smirked so evilly that it instantly made him look more like a dangerous criminal than a normal hospital patient.

"DIE!" he yelled as if bellowing a war cry.

"No! Wait!"

The nurse seriously sped up. She stretched her arms towards him and, heaving like a dog, pushed herself to her limits. But it was too late. The doors closed right in her face. A painful bang echoed. She had slammed right into the metal.

A light shake indicated that the elevator had started again. The heavy breaths that the hot-tempered boy took gradually slowed down and became lighter. Nakajima-san stared at him with a horrified expression, utterly speechless.

"…K… Kacchan?"

"Hah?" he turned to him with an aggressive gaze. Bakugou looked exactly the same as ever, as unyielding as ever. His hair stood on edge, as always, and his red eyes burned with passion, as always. But all of that melted away into confusion, an emotion that Izuku had rarely seen show up on his face before. "…You're…" It was only for a fraction of a second though because it all reverted back to that what-are-you-looking-at-want-to-fight kind of look. "Why the hell are you here, Deku?"

"You're ok… I'm so glad you're ok, Kacchan!" Izuku radiated with bliss.

Bakugou was ok. He was out of the coma. He was going to be fine.

"The hell is up with you, of course I'm fine!"

"Someone you know, Midoriya-kun?" Nakajima-san asked, somehow having been brought back to her senses. Her smile was reduced to a thin, strict line. She was obviously unhappy with the way that red-eyed boy had been addressing her patient.

"Yes… He's my classmate, Bakugou Katsuki, " Izuku told her.

"I don't need you to be worried about me, you nerd! Why the hell are you here in the first place?"

"I will not tolerate such language." Nakajima-san coldly stated.

Bakugou looked at her murderously. "What's your problem, you hag?"

The elevator finally reached ground level and the doors slid open. Izuku grabbed the IV and walked out as quickly as he could, but Nakajima-san wasn't willing to give up on the case so easily. Bakugou glared back insolently.

"Kacchan, when did you wake up?"

"Four days ago, what do you care?" he snapped.

Four days ago. That was the same day that he had woken up as well. "I'm only happy for you, that's all…" Izuku said softly.

Bakugou was striding towards the cafeteria, carrying his IV like a barbell as if that was completely natural, while Izuku did his best to follow, dragging his feet behind him. Nakajima-san trotted along, deeply worried.

"Who the fuck asked you?" Bakugou hissed.

The automatic glass doors opened for them to enter the cafeteria. There were many empty grey tables and chairs. A soft music was playing from a lonely loudspeaker that hung from the poorly-decorated wall, low enough that there would be no disturbance for the hospital patients. The people behind the counter at the other end looked at the stampeding Bakougo with fear. It seemed like they had met him before.

"Do you have coffee?" he asked the cashier.

"Y-Yes…" the young man stuttered. "Of course. What kind of coffee would you like, sir?"

"Whatever, hurry it up."

Izuku panted heavily next to the cream-haired boy. He was holding onto the cold metallic pole of the IV to support himself. His legs were shaking uncontrollably.

"Kacchan, did you ditch the nurse to drink a cup of coffee?"

"Yeah, that's exactly how it is. Got a problem with that?"

"Eh? No, it's just that… maybe, you shouldn't have done that, Kacchan…" Izuku blurted out. His hand had gotten slippery from the sweating. He couldn't hold on any longer. "Uh… I think… I'm not…"

He was wobbling.

"What? What's with that funny face?" Bakugou yelled into his face.

Izuku's legs couldn't hold him any longer. He fell forward and landed right on Bakugou.

"Don't just casually touch me, you worthless bastard!" he shouted and gripped the boy's arm, shaking him off.

Izuku twitched at the sudden pain that came from his left arm and cried in agony. A shocked Bakugou released him right away. He just noticed the bandages that were wrapped around Midoriya's arms and questioned their purpose a little too late.

Nakajima-san intervened. She picked up the writhing Izuku from the floor and turned to look at Bakugou with burning anger.

"I should have understood from the moment he said you were one of his classmates. Can't you leave this poor boy alone? Look at what you have done to him! Do you realize how messed up this is?"

"No… I didn't… I…" Bakugou had lost all of his booming confidence it just mere seconds. "What happened to him? What happened to Midoriya?"

Nakajima-san didn't care to answer him. She helped the green-haired boy stand up on his legs and gently ushered him to the exit, leaving Bakugou behind. The people in the cafeteria were gazing at him with suspicious frowns, but he didn't give one shit about them. His eyes were fixated on the red trails left behind by the reopened wound on Izuku's arm. Bakugou was not an idiot. It slowly dawned to him what the nurse was referring to.

.

.

.

Amidst the chaos that had ensued after Bakugou's appearance, Izuku had forgotten about the little boy that he had seen at the elevator. But the kid had not forgotten about him, it seemed. He had sneaked into the room while Nakajima-san was putting him back into bed. The little boy stared at the bleeding arm with curiosity, as if watching a movie. Izuku felt uncomfortable being watched by him. Wasn't anyone going to notice him?

"The stitches are still in place. It was only a little bit of blood, thankfully." Nakajima-san sighed with relief and her shoulders drooped, having examined the wound from up close. "But we'll have the doctor check on it just to be safe."

Izuku silently nodded.

Nakajima-san smiled at him while she wrapped some new, clean bandages around his aching arm.

"Don't move around, ok?" she said, or more precisely, ordered, and rushed out of the room.

As if he could. If he tried to stand up in that condition, he would pass out right there and then.

Nakajima-san passed right by the little boy in the doorway, but once again, paid him no heed. It was just Izuku and the kid now.

The little boy silently walked up to his bed and smiled at him happily.

"That looked nasty." The little boy finally spoke, pointing at Izuku's arm.

Midoriya blinked. "Uh… thank you…" he mumbled, not sure how to respond.

"My name is Shota. And yours is Deku, right?"

Izuku rubbed the back of his neck with his good arm and have a half-hearted laugh. "It's Midoriya Izuku, actually."

"But that angry mister called you Deku, didn't he?"

"That's just what he likes to call me. But I'd prefer if you called me by my actual name instead." Izuku clarified.

"Okay then, Izuku"

' _Too casual'_ , he thought but smiled politely.

"What are you doing here, anyway? Do you come and go as you please in this hospital?" Izuku asked, feeling very curious.

"More or less, that is exactly what I do," Shota replied with a soft giggle. "I don't talk to many people. You're the first one to pay attention to me."

"I'm sure your parents pay attention to you as well. And the doctors may seem a little distant, but they really do care."

"No they don't. Not anymore at least. Hey, what are your hobbies? I like watching TV. Do you play basketball?"

"Um… I don't watch TV that much… and I don't play basketball…"

"That's too bad. And I thought we could be friends!" Shota pouted.

Izuku desperately to find something to say that would interest the child.

"…I like All Might too."

That was all it took for Shota to break out in hysterical squeals.

"All Might is my favourite hero! He's the best of the best, the strongest of them all! He swoops in at the last minute and saves everyone with a smile!"

Izuku grinned, seeing how happy the little boy was.

"His fists are harder than steel!" Shota said in a deep voice and put up his hand. "His feet are faster than lightning!" he hopped from one leg to another, as if getting prepared to run a marathon. "His hair stand up, defying gravity!" he pointed at his head. "And when he saves the day, he laughs and says-"

"I am here!" Izuku shouted in an equally deep voice, beating Shota to it. He recognized the lines right away. He used to watch that show- adventures of All Might they called it- all the time when he was still in elementary.

Shota awed with disappointment, but he wouldn't give up so easily. "And remember kids, try hard enough and you can all become amazing heroes!" the little boy cited the show's All Might's catchphrase at the end of each episode.

Izuku's smile disappeared.

' _It's not bad to dream. But you also have to consider what is realistic, young man'_

"Remember that one time All Might fought with a group of villains in the underground? That was amazing, wasn't it? I wish I could be a cool hero like him!"

"Yeah. You're right… It was amazing." Izuku said and the corners of his lips curled upwards into a weak bittersweet grin.

"What do you want to be when you grow up, Izuku?" Shota asked, tapping his foot on the floor with excitement.

"Me? I… Just like you, I've always wanted to be a hero." He admitted.

"Really? We're the same then! We could become best friends!" the little boy exclaimed. "We've watched the same shows, we like the same hero, and we both want to be heroes! How cool is that?"

Just then, Izuku remembered that the Adventures of All Might had been the most popular show among the kids at that time. But it stopped airing after some issues of the companies that owned it. The problem was… that the last couple of episodes were broadcasted back when he was in fifth grade, if he remembered correctly. But Shota was much younger than him, probably less than ten. There was no way he could have watched the show.

"Shota, how old are you?" Izuku casually asked. Something about the situation was wrong. He could feel the hair rise on the back of his neck.

"Me? I think I'm eight…"

"You think…"

"Yeah, I'm not sure. I was eight a long, long time ago."

"What do you mean?"

"Izuku?"

The green-haired teen turned abruptly to the door. His mother had just entered. She had brought along a large pile of books and comics for him to read, and, to his embarrassment, his favourite All Might figurine. She set the stuff down on the counter and then stood in front of his bed, arms crossed, brows knitted, like a scared cat. Izuku felt that she had something serious to say, so he took his eyes off Shota, deciding that introductions would come later.

"Who were you talking to, Izuku? There's no one here…"

.

.

.

"You're leaving already, aren't you?"

Izuku nervously pulled at the straps of his school bag, which he had filled with all of his stuff. It felt weird wearing normal clothes again. Under the sleeves of his red sweatshirt, his arms were still bandaged and the wounds had started to turn into ugly scars. It was time for him to leave the hospital and return home. He would start school again the next day, already having missed many lessons.

Shota refused to raise his gaze from the floor.

"Will you be alright?"

"No." Shota stubbornly shook his head.

"I could come and visit from time to time."

"You said it yourself; you've got tons to study because you want to get into All Might's school. I wish I could go to UA too. It's not fair."

"I've got something for you, Shota."

"Hm?"

Izuku grinned. He reached into his bag, and after a little bit of searching, pulled out what he was looking for; All Might's figurine. He looked at it for a while, reminiscing about all those times he had used it for his games, back when he was much more little than Shota.

"I'd like you to have him." He said and offered the figurine.

Shota squinted at it with disbelief. Then he looked up at Midoriya's face. Then down at the tiny All Might in the teen's hands. Then up at him again. "You're… giving this to me? But don't you want to become like him? Like All Might?"

"I still do. But I can't keep holding onto that idea. I've decided that I will become a hero, but in my own way."

"Your own way…" Shota repeated, but his mind was elsewhere as he admired the figurine, touching the two yellow hair antennas with great interest.

"Hey, Shota… I think you can become a hero too."

The little boy's chocolate eyes glistened with an indiscernible emotion. He stared into Izuku's green own. "You do?"

"Yes. So let's both of us do our best to become the greatest heroes ever!" the green-haired teen extended his fist towards him.

Shota looked at it for a moment, then bumped his own little fist against Izuku's with a bright smile. "Thanks, Izuku! You really are a hero!"

Izuku ruffled the boy's brown hair. "You cannot believe how happy you just made me with those five words, Shota!"

Approaching footsteps. The two boys fell silent. Izuku nervously scratched his chin.

"Are you ready?"

He nodded to his mother.

"I'll make your favourite tonight. Katsudon!" She announced with a wry smirk. "You've only been fed weird hospital foods lately, so we should celebrate with a proper dish!"

"Thanks, mum!"

Izuku walked out of the room with one last glance over his shoulder. Shota waved at him with his free hand. With the other, he was clutching the figurine as if it was the most precious thing in the world. Izuku waved back.

All it took was a blink.

The boy disappeared, leaving no traces behind. Not a flash of light, nor a breeze.

' _Goodbye'_

Somehow, Izuku knew that Shota was not in the hospital anymore. He was finally where he needed to be.

Izuku and his mother went in the elevator. The old lady that he had encountered the first time he had taken the elevator and had startled by fainting in front of happened to be there too. She nodded a greeting to him, and he nodded back. His mother didn't seem to notice. No, actually, she wasn't able to see her. Nobody was. Not anymore.

The elevator stopped and the doors slid open.

What luck. Izuku gulped down his nervousness.

Bakougou and his mother, a woman that had similarly spiky hair and strict eyes joined them. They were carrying bags. Bakugou was wearing normal clothes too. He was probably returning home as well. The two mothers seemed surprised to see each other and exchanged greetings.

Bakougo was acting strange, Izuku noticed right away. He didn't glare at him the same way as before. It was still a glare of dislike, but it was much less aggressive.

"H-Hello…" Izuku stuttered awkwardly.

Bakougo just shrugged in silence.

' _What was that awfully not-Bakugou reaction?' ,_ Izuku wondered to himself.

While Izuku's mother was cold when it came to the mothers of the rest of his classmates, whom she had met individually and complained to after the incident, she didn't seem to hold a grudge against Bakougo's. She chatted with her without any problems.

' _They seem to get along well'_

At last, they reached the ground level and got out of the elevator.

The big glass doors awaited them on the left. Soon, he would be back at home, eating Katsudon with his mother.

His mind went to Shota's happy face when they waved at each other.

He could only find one explanation. That he actually had a quirk that manifested absurdly late, and that his quirk was not an easy one to handle. He could see the lurking spirits of the dead. It wasn't just Shota or that old lady. There were others wandering around the corridors, ghosts that people passed by on a daily basis, he noticed after a while. There were probably even more out there in the streets. He felt a bit terrified at the thought of going out again and confronting a brand new world that had more souls than before.

But he would take whatever challenge life presented him with.

Being a hero meant saving others. Izuku Midoriya was going to become that kind of hero.

* * *

An ESP power is the ability to communicate with the dead. I figured that one of the powers Izuku will get should be this one, which he awakened after falling from the rooftop. The ones that he talked to were people that had committed suicide. The girl with the yellow cardigan is different though... You'll see.

Next up, we have a chapter about... something! I have no idea what yet! Because I write everything on the fly, so I'm not sure. There's just this vague idea that I will develop.

Anyway, I wish you all the best. Thank you for reading.

Until next time!


	3. Chapter 2

Ok, a couple of things:

 **THANK YOU SO VERY** MUCH **GUYS!**

Thanks for each and every review. Thanks to each and every one of you. Thank you!

Ok, so someone asked me if I've read _'Yesterday Upon the Stair'_. No, I haven't read it. I checked it out of course. It's the same concept of Izuku being able to see the dead. I thought nobody else would have thought of this, but what do you know, the world is small. Thanks for telling me about it!

Moving on, I have to tell you that I am _disappointed_ with this chapter, but I had to move the plot somehow, so... here it is. It's lacking from many aspects, and I hope the next ones are better. Nothing emotional, beautiful, epic, funny, or important happens... So I apologize in advance, you may not like it. It's a bit like a vegetable grown solely in water; it has the blandest taste. (plants grow with just water, right? I remember that experiment with lentils and cotton back in elementary... If this is not the case then I have made a fool of myself, but oh well, life is too short to worry about that)

Anyway, enjoy!

* * *

Izuku looked down at the miserable number marked with red ink on his test. He desperately needed to catch up.

The smell of something burning permeated the classroom.

Bakugou was literally trembling from anger. He had singed the edges of the table with his palms, and if one looked closely enough, he could see the pulsating veins running down his fingers.

Izuku felt sincerely bad for him. Bakugou hadn't been at school for a whole month. Considering that he wanted to get into UA, things were probably very pressuring.

Bakougo flinched. Very slowly, he turned his head to look at Izuku, who fidgeted nervously in his seat. What an intimidating glare. But the crimson-eyed teen said nothing. Izuku doodled on the book in front of him with his pencil. The hot-tempered boy had been strangely quiet around him ever since that time in the hospital.

School was… different. After everything that happened, they had welcomed the fire boy as if he had just returned from war. Every break, he would be surrounded by people that wanted to congratulate him on his spectacular resistance to the villain. And they had tried to welcome Izuku too. They all forced themselves to smile, and the teachers all went easy on him. Nobody made fun of him anymore. But it felt… awkward.

"Make sure you copy these down" the teacher gestured to the writings on the board as he set down his chalk.

Izuku glanced up with a troubled frown, confirming, perhaps for the ninth time that day, that he could see everything clearly. How could his eyesight have improved so suddenly? Just three weeks ago, he couldn't tell the difference between kanji and hiragana from the second row of desks without his glasses on. Yet, on the first day, he noticed that even a glimpse through the thick round lenses revealed a distorted picture that made him dizzy almost right away.

At last, the bell rang, and multiple sighs echoed in the classroom. Chairs were dragged back and people started stretching and packing their things. Izuku shoved his book and pencil case into his school bag.

"Are you still going to apply?" Bakugou suddenly spat. He was towering over him, staring down with burning red eyes.

"A-Apply?" Izuku stuttered. He didn't like how loud his voice sounded in the almost-empty classroom.

"UA." Bakugou hissed and swung his bag over his shoulder.

"I… I'm not sure." He admitted, looking down at the floor.

Bakugou grunted in response and walked on ahead without saying anything else.

He wasn't sure anymore. UA had always been his dream. He didn't want to give it up. But with the quirk that he had, what good would he be against a villain?

No…He had always lived with the unyielding hope that he would somehow manage. He was the same, with or without a quirk. He wanted it so badly…

 _But he had to be realistic._

Izuku saw the spiky, cream-colored hair disappear at the corner. It was time for him to go.

He sighed heavily and his shoulders drooped. The streets were… tiring. There had always been dozens of people walking on the sidewalks, occasionally bumping into each other. And naturally, Izuku tried not to get into anyone's way.

But there was one big problem… he couldn't tell ghosts and living apart.

Used to not being seen, they passed right through the bodies of the living or stopped in the middle of the road to chat while cars swished through them. Almost most of them were elderly men and women.

Izuku's heart skipped countless beats every time that a car would approach a person that stood still at the crossing with the green light on for cars. The ghosts didn't even blink when they phased through the vehicles.

But the worst of all was that every time Izuku encountered one, without having a way to tell if they were ghosts or not, took a few steps to the side so as not to fall on them. And every time, the ghosts would stop in their tracks, gasp, and let their jaw drop with wide eyes. Such was the shock of being seen by a living, apparently.

And this had led to unwanted attention…

"I need you to vandalize my boss's car!"

Izuku didn't lift his gaze from the ground and walked past the ghost that had been standing in front of the school gate with arms crossed since the early morning, having followed him there after realizing that Izuku was able to see him. It was the ghost of a bulky man with office clothes, a red tie, hair cut close to the skull, and a stubbly chin.

"You see, I can't do it by myself anymore, and I really, really, really need to see that jerk crying red tears when he sees his precious car all scratched up. It is the absolute form of revenge!"

Izuku gradually picked up his pace.

"Please kid. I'll give you money if you want! I'll tell you the password to my bank account! No, actually, that's not a good idea, they'll put you in jail for that…"

Izuku was sweating nervously, but still, did not turn to look at the ghost.

"The name's Tanaka Ryuji by the way. What's yours, kid? You're still in high school, right? What's your age? Wait, you're still not in high school, right? I'm only three or four years older than you then! So anyway, listen kid, my boss fired me the other day and I really need to get back to him, so please do me the favor!"

"I- I'm sorry, I can't do that…" Izuku mumbled quietly so that no one around would hear.

"What? You ain't got the guts or something? Come on kid, it's my last request! I just want to take revenge for my job and then I'll go away. Just this once, alright?"

"No, I really can't do it…." Izuku repeated with a slight quaver.

And it went on and on, with the ghost muttering about the boss that fired him and other random things, including his collection of sea urchins, his favorite red wooly socks, and that one time that he was bitten by a snake.

Until finally, Izuku arrived home.

"What's this, kid? Is this your house? Hmm? The nameplate says Midoriya…"

"I'm very sorry, but I won't be vandalizing anyone's car. Go away, p-please, Tanaka-san!" Izuku exclaimed and with an awkward, deep bow of heartfelt respect for a dead person, he slammed the door in the ghost's face. "I'm sorry!" he shouted once more for good measure behind the closed door.

He knew that a closed door wouldn't prevent a ghost from entering since they could phase through anything, but hoped that the man would have the decency to stay out.

A minute passed. Nothing weird started to morph on the door.

Izuku sighed with relief and, leaning on the metal, slowly slid to the floor. "Thank goodness… I wouldn't know what to do if he were to come in!"

He stooped down to untie the laces of his favorite red sneakers, and then neatly placed them next to his mother's pair of shoes. One could tell that his feet were bigger than hers when the shoes were put side to side. But he was still shorter.

He lifted his chin. A delicious smell was coming from the kitchen. He could hear the metallic clang of utensils.

"I'm home!"

The top of a head peeped from the corner. The corners of her eyes wrinkled, a sign that she was smiling.

"Welcome back, Izuku!"

"You're home early…What are you making?"

"Egg fried rice, and, at your request, salad to the side. It's almost ready, so why don't you go wash your hands?"

"Thanks, mum! I'm really hungry!"

He raced past her to get to the bathroom, and she smirked at the sound of his grumbling stomach that was timed so ironically well.

It felt nice eating together. He told her everything about school and how everybody treated him neutrally. She told him about the curious case of missing laundry that was hung on washing lines in the neighborhood. Then he told her about the bad test core he had gotten. They talked about the weather, the news, the advertisements on TV, the new films that were coming out. Izuku dug into the food with bliss and happily conversed about trivial things. He had started to notice the value of small, everyday things lately. A meal, a bath, a longer than usual sleep. A movie night, a walk in the park, shopping from the convenience store. Suddenly, each of those things had a special importance.

And to think that he had almost ruined everything.

"By the way, Izuku… I haven't come across that yellow cardigan I bought you in the laundry basket for a long while now… Have you stopped wearing it?"

He froze and the rice rolled off his chopsticks.

"It's ok, I won't get mad if it has a hole or two. Just give it to me and I'll patch it up…"

"No, it's not that…" he lowered his two chopsticks and stared down at the steaming white rice with the colorful bits in his plate. His stomach felt full suddenly.

"Izuku?"

There it was again, that tremble in her voice, full of worry. It was a remnant of the tremble that he had heard back in the hospital, that first time that he had opened his eyes. It didn't have the same audacity, but it was there, faint as it might be. Every time she would worry, that tremble would come out like a painful reminder.

"I left it there…On that day." Izuku spoke.

They didn't talk for a while. The clock that hung on the wall next to the fridge ticked loudly with every passing second, like the sound of a woodchopper, digging into the rough, thick tree trunk with the sharpened blade of an ax.

"I'm sorry. It was a great gift. I wish I could get it back…"

"I-I'll knit you a new one, okay? I'll knit you a cardigan so warm, soft, and stylish that you'll want to wear it wherever you go! It will be the best cardigan you will ever see! Don't underestimate your mum's knitting skills!"

.

.

.

Izuku opened the book and started flipping pages.

"It must be written on one of the pages, I'm sure I took a note of it, if it's not in here, then where else could it be? No, it's in here, it's in here, I wrote it with a pencil, somewhere around page one hundred and ten to twenty, no, it's not this one either, the pages before that perhaps, I really need to do it, it's important homework, …"

First, it was history. Then it was biology. Now it was math. He had already spent more than an hour studying and would want to study even more for the sake of his academic performance, even though the wish to browse through All Might's fan page was nagging at him from the back corner of his mind.

"Here it is! Let's see then, if you do this, then it won't work, I have to apply another formula, but I have to be careful to substitute it with the correct-"

"You mumble a lot when you're trying to focus"

"Gwah!"

Izuku's pencil rolled off the edge of his desk. He spun around with wide eyes, cradling his heavy math book like a child would its pillow.

It was her.

She was sitting with on his bed with folded legs, casually flipping through one of his comics with a face of disinterest. She was wearing the yellow cardigan. The girl from the rooftop.

Izuku pointed a shaky finger at her. "Y-You're…"

"Dead?" she suggested, raising an eyebrow.

"No… you're… the one from that time…"

"I'm glad you remember me." Her attention returned to the comic.

Izuku stared speechlessly at her. ' _There's a girl in my room'_ , he thought and instantly started to sweat nervously.

"This is boring." She announced and gently put the comic down. "Do you have any other books, Midoriya?"

"Eh? You- you know my name?"

"Sure I do. I mean, I traded with you after all. Shouldn't I know who you are?"

"T-traded?" repeated and titled his head to the side. "But I don't know you…"

"No need to. I'm just hanging around for fun. Just like that guy that's been lurking outside your apartment for a while now. I saw him follow you from school. He's one of the new ones. He'll get bored and move on soon."

"Move on…"

"I'm curious, Midoriya. Have you tried touching a ghost? You'll find that you can not only see and hear them but touch them as well."

"I kn-" Izuku narrowed his eyes. "How do you know this much? Who are you? And how can you touch that?" He gestured to the comic. "I thought ghosts couldn't touch stuff…"

She sighed and grimaced as if explaining was the most boring, tiring, unpleasant thing in the world. Yet she rose from the bed and gave a slight bow. Her orange, wavy hair fell forward.

"My name is Rin. Just Rin."

Izuku rubbed the back of his neck nervously, then awkwardly bowed. "Nice to meet you"

"I can interact with my surroundings if I want. It's not that difficult for someone like me. But I don't do it often because it scares people when things start flying around." She lifted her hair with a smirk. "There, I answered one of your questions. Your turn. So far, how has your quirk manifested?"

"I can… I can see the dead."

"…Is that all?"

"Should there be more?" Izuku gulped. He wasn't in for any unpleasant surprises. But a part of him filled with excitement.

"Not yet. I see." She nodded to herself, without directly answering his question.

He rested the math book on the desk and turned to her, having started to gather his thoughts a bit. "How much do you know about this quirk? And why do you know?"

"It's a bit complicated, actually. I called it a quirk, but I'm not sure you should be calling it that. It's not a quirk exactly. I used to have it as well."

"The same quirk… but how can you say that it's not one?"

"Listen here, Midoriya. You see this cardigan?" Rin ran her hand over the yellow fabric. "Doesn't it look a bit too familiar? It's yours."

"You've had _my_ cardigan all this time?" he frowned, feeling a bit upset.

She shrugged. "It was a trade. I took the cardigan. And you now have… them."

Rin rolled up her sleeves. There was no blood, just pinkish skin, without a scar or anything that would indicate that there had once been a grave injury on the girl's forearms.

Izuku's hands subconsciously went to his wrists, playing with the edge of his sleeves.

Rin took a few steps forward, and he tensed. She raised her arm and touched his fingers. She glared at him carefully. "Can I see them? Your arms…"

He let her move his hands away, despite the urge to push them away. He didn't want anyone to see that. It didn't sit right with him to see it either. Even when taking baths, he would find himself trying to avoid looking. It was better to pretend that they did not exist.

Rin touched the deep scars with a bitter expression. "I'm sorry. It must have hurt a lot."

He looked the other way, feeling the blood rush in his cheeks.

"The dead and the living are not supposed to interact. But here we are, having made this peculiar trade." She let go of him and fixed the folds of her rolled sleeves. "I think this is what triggered the manifestation of what you like to refer to as your quirk. Partially, it is my fault. I couldn't just stand by and see you waste your life like that. Ghosts that die by their own hand are of the ones with the most trouble moving on. I thought I was doing you a favor. I would never have imagined that such a thing would happen. It is peculiar indeed."

Izuku was very confused as to what she was trying to say, but he did register a few things. "You mean that our… trade… caused the quirk to finally manifest? Why wouldn't it manifest before? From a young age, I've waited…"

"If a person has the potential, and certain conditions are met, then it manifests. I've interacted with many sorts over the decades, but it's the first time that I meet another one like me. You drew the short straw, I dare say.."

"Why do you keep saying that it's not a quirk? I really… I don't get it, Rin-san."

She winced. "Just Rin. Have you told your mother about your sudden ability to see the dead?"

"Uh… no," he admitted with a guilty shake of his head. "I don't want her to freak out. I mean, after everything that happened… I cannot just walk up to her and say that I can talk to the dead. Ah, of course, I plan on telling her eventually…" Izuku waved his hands around.

"See is a good person, that woman. Cooks food for you, washes your clothes for you, pays for your tuition. I hope you get to appreciate how much she cares, after what you've experienced." Rin suddenly froze. "Midoriya."

"Yes?"

"I know I haven't told you anything yet, but this is it for the day. Good luck."

"Eh?"

"See ya."

The girl suddenly broke into a sprint and ran through the wall, disappearing without any other word. Izuku stared at the wall dumbfounded, wondering what all that had been about. She hadn't answered his questions, instead, she had created more.

"KID!"

"Waah! What is-!"

Once again, a startled Izuku turned around, coming face to face with a bodiless head that protruded from the bulletin board above his desk. The stubbly chin contracted with impatience.

"Tanaka-san?"

"Yeah, it's me kid! Listen, you have to hurry up! There's this guy with a gun at the supermarket!"

"What?"

"Just hurry it up!"

The head disappeared and a hand shot from the bulletin board. It seized hold of Izuku's hand and pulled with force.

"Ah- W-Wait!"

The green-haired teen found himself bending over the desk.

The hand let go of him and Tanaka's head reappeared with an apologetic expression. "Sorry kid. I forgot that you can't do this stuff. But you need to hurry!"

"You said there's a man with a gun?" Izuku asked as he stumbled backwards.

"Yeah. I didn't know who else to come to! This shady guy walked in the store just a minute ago! I saw the gun, but I don't think any of the customers or the cashier did! You really need to hurry!"

Izuku felt the effects of the adrenaline that rushed through his blood. Dry throat. Cold sweat. Rapid heartbeat. He glanced at the math book that lay open on his desk as if searching for instructions on what to do there.

"Please!" Tanaka's head repeated. "I think he was drunk. He may shoot somebody!"

Izuku's fingers curled and uncurled.

Right now, nobody knew of the danger. It was only him. Only he knew about it. Only he could do something about it.

"I'll call the police!" he announced and grabbed his cell phone.

Tanaka's head disappeared behind the wall as Izuku flung the door open. The All Might sign with his name on it swung and landed on the floor. The muffled voices of the TV were coming from the living room. He could see the grey flashes on the wall opposite the open door.

"Mum! I'm going out!"

The volume of the TV lowered completely.

"Izuku? Where are you going?"

"Just to the convenience store. I feel like eating some chips. Do you want me to get anything else?"

She got up from the couch and trotted to the entrance, where he was putting on his shoes. A deep frown was etched on her face. She put her hand over her heart and managed to drown the emotion of dread. He was just going to the store. Nothing to worry about.

She smiled at him warmly. "I think we're out of milk."

He grinned back and grabbed the knob. "I'll be back soon."

She nodded to him and waved, but when the door closed, her arm fell limply to her side, and her expression froze.

Nothing to worry about. He was just going to get some chips and milk. He had said that he'd be back soon.

Nothing to worry about.

.

.

.

Izuku drew a shaky breath. His hand was trembling. He pressed the cell phone close to his ear.

"Uh… Yes… Thank you… I think I saw someone with a gun enter a convenience store. I'm worried that something will happen."

Tanaka nodded encouragingly and ran a hand through his stubbly chin.

"What they look like…? Um… they… they…" his green eyes darted to the ghost's face hopelessly.

The tall man pointed to his own head and made a gesture of pulling something over it.

"They uh… they're… they have a hood on."

He patted his suit and made the gesture again.

"A black hoodie," Izuku mumbled with uncertainty. "And… um…" Suddenly, Izuku put down the phone. "Tanaka-san!" he whispered "They can't hear you. You can talk to me freely."

The ghost flinched. "Right."

Izuku described the armed person according to Tanaka-san's words and gave them the address.

"Yes, I'm at the store right now." He informed the police officer on the other side of the line and stopped in his tracks. He had just arrived.

The partition was recently cleaned, and the inside of the store was brightly-lit, with colorful aisles and signs with big, red letters. A cheerful, robotic music was playing from the loudspeakers. The cashier at the corner, a short, tired woman, mumbled a half-hearted 'welcome' and her attention returned to the screen of her phone. The smell of mints was strong.

The automatic glass doors closed behind him and Izuku shook his pocket to hear the coins clunk in an attempt to calm himself.

Tanaka, who had silently followed, pointed at the aisle to the far left, where all the cat food was kept. "There."

Izuku spotted the figure that the man had described, clad in black.

The voice from his cell phone asked more questions, but he couldn't help but ignore it. The armed person's hood had been lifted ever so slightly. Two watery, puffy eyes stared back at Izuku with evident panic. Izuku lowered the phone with trembling lips. He had messed up.

That was all it took. The person's hand moved fast and pulled a small, glistening black gun from underneath the jacket.

The sound of the shot pierced his ears. The cashier screamed. The voice from Izuku's cell phone became an incoherent soft mumble as the device glided on the smooth floor, spinning several times and stopping at the base of a shelf.

"You ok, kid?"

He glanced at the tall, suit-wearing ghost. Tanaka's red tie swayed in front of Izuku's face. He glared at the ghost with big, scared eyes and nodded.

The robber lowered the gun but kept its tip pointed at the cashier. Without leaving the woman from his sight, his free hand searched blindly on the shelves as he strode across the front of the aisles towards her. He groaned with satisfaction when he found the long neck of a bottle.

Suddenly, his glazed over, chilly eyes landed on Izuku. "You! Put the money in here!" he growled and threw him an empty plastic trash bag. Izuku caught it in mid-air with shaking hands. The man motioned towards the cashier machine.

Izuku trudged next to the woman and they exchanged scared glances. The woman's mouth moved and she shook her head, but no sound came out.

The armed man pointed the tip of his gun at the green-haired teen. "Now." He hissed.

The woman made way for Izuku with a yelp.

The man began shoving bottles of beer and wine in another trash bag, filling it with the heavy objects without thinking that the plastic could tear.

The cell phone was still open, Izuku thought. The police had heard everything. Surely, a hero was underway…

"Hurry the fuck up!" the man roared. "You! Help him!" he shouted to the woman, waving the gun at her.

"Please, don't hurt anybody! Please!" she cried.

"Shut your trap!"

"I can do it!" Izuku intervened. "I don't need her help! See?" he started to put the money in the bag hastily to convince the man to leave her alone.

The woman collapsed to her knees, tearing up. Shrill cries escaped her throat as she rocked herself back and forth.

"Shut it!"

The sobbing got louder.

"I said shut up!" He pointed the gun at her again.

The woman clutched her belly and continued to whimper. "No…Please! My… my baby…. Not my baby…"

Izuku felt his heart skip a beat. The man walked up to them with a deranged look. The stench of alcohol made him wrinkle his nose. He was drunk. He couldn't reason properly.

"Damn right I'll shoot your baby if you don't stop, oi!"

The man forcefully grabbed her and shook her violently. He pressed the loaded gun against the woman's abdomen and she screeched, starting to hyperventilate. Her eyes widened so much that Izuku thought that they would pop out of their sockets. "No!" She struggled in an effort to shield that precious life that was growing inside her, but he wouldn't let her bend over.

Her panicked brown eyes found the emerald ones.

A woman was going to die, a woman that was carrying a child, just like his mother had once. Two lives were about to be taken away. Right then and there. Right in front of his eyes.

Izuku's entire being felt the cry of despair, the request for help, for someone, anyone, to help, to stop this, to prevent it, to put an end to it-

He couldn't allow it.

Before he could think things through, before he could even freeze from his own fright, Izuku found himself moving.

He couldn't allow it.

His body slammed right into the robber and pushed the man's gun out of his hand.

He couldn't allow it.

The man groaned and shook manically like a dog, but Izuku did not let go.

He couldn't allow it.

He pounded his fist against the green-haired boy's ribs. Again and again, the fist sent powerful shocks of pain all over, mercilessly. Izuku grunted, but still did not let go. Through half-closed eyes, he saw the woman, curled on the floor, still holding her belly.

Another strike to his sides made Izuku gasp as air escaped his lungs. His fingers curled into a fist. No. He couldn't allow it. No matter what.

The lights were flickering like crazy. A humming noise got louder and louder, developing into an annoying buzz. Cans were falling off the shelves with a metallic clatter.

Out of the blue, the robber was flung several feet away, crashing on the shelves of the other side of the convenience store. The products of the shelves rained down on him and covered the miserable form. The man stirred but did not stand up.

It was all over.

.

.

.

"Nice job, kid! When that guy pulled the gun out, I thought that was going to be the end! But you jumped right in!"

Izuku gave a weak grin of appreciation to the ghost.

"Are you hurt?" Tanaka asked, noticing the slow pace of the boy's walking.

"It's just a couple of bruises. They'll go away in a few days." He waved his hand to dismiss the matter.

"My, you really surprised me, kid! I didn't know you had two quirks. Did you get that from your dad? He must be a hero or something, right?"

"Eh? Ah, no…" Izuku's expression darkened for a split second. "My father's quirk is completely different."

"Your mother then?" The ghost asked cheerfully.

Izuku again shook his head. He looked down at his open palm. What had all that been? He was certain that he had been the cause of it.

The tall ghost stared at the boy intensely. "Hey."

He looked up.

Tanaka's stubbly face was serious. "The truth is, I want to do something that has worth before I go. I only caused trouble while I was alive. So please, kid, you're the only one that can see me, so…" The ghost took a deep breath, an action that was entirely unnecessary, before continuing. "…So, can I come to you, whenever something bad happens? If it is a cat stuck in a tree, or a child that has lost a balloon, can I pester you about it? You wanted to be a hero, right? I saw the All Might posters in your room."

Izuku blushed. "Please, don't go in my house again!"

"May I say, that is some extreme fanaticism. I mean, I am a fan of All Might too, but not at the point that I slept with a blanket that had his face on it. I just remembered, I tried to get into UA, but failed the exams."

"You've taken the exams?"

"Yeah, when I was your age, which was, hey, not that long ago… They're insane! No wonder so few manage to pass every year."

They conversed lightly after that, every time that people were far enough to not hear Izuku seemingly mumbling to himself. The streets were fairly empty anyway. When they reached the door of Izuku's house, an awkward silence spread between them.

"…I forgot the milk." Izuku muttered.

"Hey, Midoriya's your name, right?" Tanaka asked, pointing at the nameplate.

The green-haired boy nodded.

The man smiled. "You'll make a good hero, Midoriya. I bet you could even get into UA if you tried. Have you considered taking the exams?"

Izuku paused with the hand on the knob. "…Yeah… Yes, I'll think about it." He gave a toothy smirk. "Thank you, Tanaka-san."

.

.

.

He looked down at the slip of paper on his desk, torn from –what a tragedy!– the thirteenth notebook of the 'Hero Analysis for the Future' series that he had worked on so hard! The notebook lay open right next to his math book, with the remains of what was once a full page clearly visible under the lamplight.

He snatched the paper and held it with both hands, bringing it close so that he could read the neat letters, then blinked at the realization that it was too close, and readjusted the distance. He remembered that he didn't need glasses anymore.

Izuku's grip crumbled the paper's edges. He read the short, simple question.

 _What do you want to become now?_

 _-Rin_

* * *

 **(Referring to hours of procrastination and time spent writing instead of homework) It is the curse of the writers. But it's ok. At the end of the day… Even if it really is the end of the day… We get shit done. -** wise words that I totally relate to

Well, there it is. I'm not very satisfied with it, but I can't afford to rewrite it (I already rewrote a large part of it) This chapter was similar to episode 2, wasn't it? With Izuku jumping right in to save somebody and all.

I think you can already guess the answer to Rin's question. I mean, we've got to get him to UA, don't we?

I hope you're not too confused with the whole Rin-thing. I came up with it fairly recently. Oh, and I hope you don't mind that I added a character like Tanaka. He won't make many appearances, but he is convenient; a ghost that can inform Izuku about anything that is going on in the city. I don't know, he's a bit of an irrelevant presence in the story.

We've got the exams for next chapter. I think I'll still be sticking close to the original plot for that. Not time to part with it yet.

Enjoy the remaining autumn, everyone! And once again, a huge THANK YOU for all those reviews!

Until next time!


	4. Chapter 3

Ok, I did not proofread this, beware…

So, previous chapter, I received some very supportive reviews, thank you! You made me think that all the worry over the chapter being not good enough was for naught. I'm glad you enjoyed it!

So now, after stating that I will have more confidence in the future, I must again, add a pessimistic remark (I am a controversial human being): this chapter is not so original, I think. Be ready to see dialogue from episode three and four… But, it's ok, I guess… I mean, I think the outcome is ok…

 **THANK YOU, READERS!**

Enjoy!

* * *

Tanaka put his hands to the sides of his mouth, forming a short of cone, and bellowed with his cracking, awfully loud voice:

"Come on, Midoriya! Show some spirit!"

Izuku looked down at the ghost. He was too far up on the tree to give up now. The boy hesitantly placed his foot on a thick branch, then grabbed a thinner one and pulled himself up with a groan. The early, light green leaves, still developing and sort of moist to the touch, brushed his freckled cheeks as he did.

"Go, go!" Tanaka shouted again and gave him the thumbs up.

Getting a cat down from a tree was something that Izuku hadn't thought that he would do many times in his life. But Tanaka hadn't been kidding when he said that he'd be on the lookout for scared felines. Over the course of the few months, the ghost had called Izuku to rescue eleven cats, to carry the shopping bags of at least seven elderly people, to find four lost wallets, to help some tourists by giving them directions, and many, many other things. He had spent almost every afternoon running around and completing those small tasks, and now he had earned a reputation among the neighbors.

' _Still,'_ he thought, as he looked at the twelfth cat, an orange tabby kitten that hissed at him menacingly when it realized his close proximity, _'Still, this feels heroic in its own way'_

"Grab it by its nape! Like cats do when they carry them!" Tanaka suggested.

With a troubled frown, Izuku observed the frizzy fur on the kitten's spine and tail, and the way its front paw wavered into the air. It wasn't going to cooperate, it seemed.

"H-Hang on… I'll get you down…" Izuku told the cat, but he said it more to motivate himself. He wasn't looking forward to the scratches.

Tanaka squinted, with a hand on his forehead to shield his eyes from the sun. His red tie was loose around his neck, and he had rolled up the black sleeves of his jacket. Ghosts couldn't feel temperature, but he was trying to match the season nonetheless.

He couldn't see what exactly was happening high up in the tree, but by the sound of it, things were not going well for Midoriya. A high-pitched, threatening meow was followed by a yelp of surprise.

Then there was the sound of wood snapping, and the green-haired teen fell with a cry.

However, minutes before his body could touch the ground, his momentum stopped. Izuku was hovering above the ground, somehow. He blinked, realizing that he was floating in mid-air, and sighed. Just like that time…

The kitten, noticing that the ground was close, gave a powerful kick with its hind legs and broke free from his hold, flinging itself away. Izuku's suspension stopped. He fell down with a grunt.

The ghost looked down at him from above, blocking the sun with his egg-shaped head. Tanaka raised an eyebrow with amusement. "I thought I told you to grab it by its nape."

Izuku groaned in response.

He had no idea why, but apparently, there was more to his quirk than he realized, just as Rin had said.

On many occasions, he had found himself strangely levitating. It always happened randomly. He had woken up that morning to brush his teeth, and still drowsy, didn't notice until his head hit the ceiling and he dropped his toothbrush in the sink. But it was not just that.

Sometimes, especially when he was stressing over his homework, the lamp on his desk would flicker to the point that it became impossible to focus. Or, the pages of his book would, as if blown by a strange breeze, would start to flip. One night, he had woken up sweat-drenched and in panic, because his blanket had started to assault him; wrapping itself around his body. Another, at class, his pencil just kept rolling off the desk. He had looked at a door once, thinking of shutting it, and as he had gotten up, it had slammed shut on its own.

Most absurd of all, he had dreamt that there would be a sale at a local market and that his mother would bring home many tomatoes and make him a salad that day. A weird dream to have, but he had ignored it, as any normal person. Then, a few days later, his mother entered the house and put down a bag of newly-bought tomatoes, announcing that she was going to make a salad. She had said it exactly in the same way as he had dreamt of it and was even wearing the same clothes. She even cut her left thumb when making the salad, just like in the dream. The sense of déjà vu had weirded him out for the whole afternoon that followed.

Izuku was worried that there really was something wrong with him. It was either his imagination or he had multiple quirks... No, it was something else…These… abilities, they were connected somehow, stemming from the same thing. But not once had he heard of such a case. And he still hadn't told his mother about most of it.

All that he had said was: "Mum, I… I think I have a quirk now."

At which she had shed tears of joy, and hugged him, and kissed his forehead. All that, after of course, making sure that Izuku was not having false hopes; she had told him to show her, and he did, by staring at his food for several minutes and gnawing at his spoon nervously, until a rectangular piece of carrot suddenly flew up and crashed on the kitchen's ceiling, staying there like a squashed bug.

Midoriya Inko had pointed at the carrot on the ceiling and expressed how proud she was of him and how much she loved him, and he had fallen into her open arms, accepting the offer for a hug as the waterworks began. They cried over that squashed vegetable together, among giggles of bliss. If anyone were to witness the scene, they wouldn't make heads and tails of it.

"Hey, kid."

Izuku blinked, leaving his thoughts behind.

"Thanks for coming all the way so early in the morning!"

The freckled teen smiled. "It-It was nothing, really."

"So… the exams are tomorrow, huh?"

Izuku nodded silently.

"Don't worry, you're gonna do just fine. You just have to have confidence!"

The idea of 'exams' was so intimidating, and exciting at the same time, that he doubted he would be able to eat a good breakfast without feeling ill afterwards.

He would be asked to show off his quirk, a quirk that he couldn't control and barely knew what it allowed him to do. Things were not looking good, but at least there was something to look at….

.

.

And then, before he knew it, tomorrow was finally there.

Izuku could not believe that, in an hour or so, he would be strolling the corridors of U.A., the top hero school, the school All Might had attended! He felt like exploding from joy just by thinking about it.

"Izuku."

"Hm?" he turned around.

She took in her son's appearance; red sneakers, school bag, the yellow cardigan she had knitted him, the curly green hair standing on his head rebelliously, the emerald eyes, anxious and watery, yet burning with determination. All ready to pursue his dream.

"You've grown so much, Izuku!"

"M-mum? Oh, no, please, don't cry!"

"My baby is doing his best!"

"M-M-Mum?"

It was too late, she had already broken into sobs. Izuku, not having anything else to do, hugged the chubby figure, digging his face into the soft, green hair and finding comfort there. He understood where all that was coming from. His mother had watched him hold onto a hope all those years and knew what this day meant to him. He had to hold back the sting that had developed in his own throat, otherwise, they would both fall into one of those sentimental moments and he would miss the train. Crying was like a contagious cold in the Midoriya household. If one Midoriya started, the other would follow.

"Ok, ok…" she blinked to clear her vision, and gave him a shaky smile. "I know you'll do your best."

"Yes!"

"…The neighbors told me about what you've been doing lately."

"W-what I-I've been doing?"

"You helped them paint the walls of their living room, or so I heard. That is some neighborhood-hero work, Izuku!"

"Yes!" he grinned, practically beaming.

"And I also heard that you caught the underwear thief!"

"Y-Yes…" he admitted with a blush of embarrassment. "But that was just an elementary student fooling around, so it was nothing dangerous, mum, I swear-"

"And you've earned a reputation as a 'cat rescuer' in the neighborhood. Little Hitomi-chan next doors was so happy when you brought back her cat!"

"I-I just happened to hear the meowing when I passed by the trashcans and-"

"Izuku!"

He flinched at the sudden serious tone.

She took a deep breath and looked him straight in the eye. "I've never told you this… because I thought that it would hurt you. But now I know that, by not saying it at all, not even once, I hurt you more…"

"What are you talking about, mum? You've-"

"Izuku!"

"Yes!" He tensed.

"Izuku!" her features softened and a wide, toothy smile broke out. "Izuku! I think that you can become a great hero, Izuku!"

It was that simple. Just that simple. With those few words, his mother chased away the darkness that had stuck with him for all those years, ever since he was told that 'it would be better to give up'. The words had finally come, from the person dearest to him.

"Off you go then!"

He wiped the tear that had made an appearance at the corner of his eye, fixed the straps of his bag, took a deep breath, and opened the door.

"Yes! I'll do my best!"

' _Thank you, mum…'_

He stepped out in the cold, damp air. The sun had just risen. A few, kind sunrays had found their way through the scarce clouds and had fallen on his face, heating it up. A fine day indeed.

.

.

.

Izuku stopped at the entrance, staring in awe at the two small sky-scraper-like buildings that loomed above every other building in the vicinity. Every window was squeaky-clean. At ground level, white columns supported the small extension of roof, with red doors and signs telling students where to go on the walls. This was it, the porch of U.A.

Not that he hadn't seen it before, but this was a special occasion and he felt like taking that moment to appreciate its greatness more.

Soon, the concerns started to flood in, and Izuku continued to walk, with his head hung down.

"What should I do? I still don't know much about my quirk, nor how it works exactly… Staring at things sometimes makes them work, but the others are random, ghosts cannot really help with this, and besides, the others will think I'm talking to thin air…Maybe I should try the staring, I still do not know what triggers it exactly, sometimes they move in mere seconds, and at other times, they do not move at all, most of the objects were small in size too, if it is a matter of size I may be at a disadvantage, but if-"

"Out of my way, Deku."

A shiver ran through his body. Izuku spun around, already moving his arms up and down way too much. "K-K-Kach-Kachan!" he managed to stutter.

The crimson-eyed boy was also in his school uniform, but unlike Izuku, had taken measures against the seeping cold and was wearing a scarf. He glared at him with the usual frown of dislike.

"Good m-morning! L-Let's both d-do our best!" the green-haired teen offered a timid, half-baked, awkward smile.

Bakugou scoffed. "Whatever" he mumbled and strode past him without paying him any attention.

Izuku lowered his arms and sighed. He stared at the flame-boy's back. He was still afraid of him and his explosive personality, but there really wasn't any reason to be so jumpy around him anymore. The bullying had stopped, ever since that day.

Midoriya shook his head and patted his cheeks. No, this was not the time to be troubled. This was the time to concentrate. He raised his foot, ready to take a step forward. He was going to give it his be-

His feet got tangled.

' _This is it…'_

But it wasn't. He didn't land on the ground like an overgrown walrus.

For a moment, Izuku registered the strange lack of gravity he felt all over as a result of his own powers.

"Are you alright?"

Izuku turned. There was a girl, with shoulder-length straight hair at the color of caramel, and a pink scarf, smiling at him. She grabbed him, and, as if used to doing so, casually put him down.

"It's my quirk. Sorry for using it without asking first." She apologized with palms pressed together. "But it'd be bad luck if you fell, right?"

He remained frozen and speechless.

"Aren't you nervous?" she said and her head fell back. What a bright smile!

"E-U-Uh…" he searched desperately for anything to say, feeling his heart beat faster than ever. Was this really happening?

"Let's do our best! See ya!"

She continued to walk, leaving him behind.

Slowly, a crazy grin appeared on Izuku's face. _'I talked to a girl!'_

It was amazing how much that brief encounter refilled his motivation gauge. He followed the sings with eagerness, until he made it to the room where they were about to be informed about the exams. He took his designated seat, not paying attention to the people around him, or Bakugou for that matter, who shot him a death glare when he sat down next to him.

Eventually, the room filled up with the anxious students, and a strange, ominous silence prevailed.

A man with spiky blond hair and purple sunglasses appeared on the podium. He had clothes that would suit a hard rock idol, and many accessories to go with the overall appearance. Izuku squeaked with childish wonder.

"Everybody say hey!"

But nobody replied.

' _No! I want to say hey! I'm ready to say hey!'_ Izuku tried to send waves of positivity to the hero that did not manage to appeal to the audience.

Still, Present Mic didn't lose his forte. He described the situation to the students, throwing random rock phrases in his speech.

So… three types of robots, with three levels of difficulty. How big would they get? Would they move slowly? Would they have any weak spots?

Izuku looked down at the handout, noticing that there was another robot that the pro hero hadn't mentioned. Luckily, he didn't have to master the courage to ask, as another student, two rows in front of him, raised his hand high up in the air and brought it to the hero's attention.

"And you over there, with the curly hair!"

Izuku felt a chill run down his spine, as the tall, bespectacled boy pointed at him all of the sudden.

"You've been muttering this whole time. It's distracting! If you're here on a pleasure trip, you should leave immediately!"

Izuku put a hand over his mouth and shrunk in his seat.

"Ok, ok, examinee number 7111…" Present Mic waved at the boy to settle down and proceeded to patiently explain that the fourth one was not worth any points and that it was to be seen as an obstacle. "And now, I have a present for all of you listeners- our school's motto. The great hero Napoleon Bonaparte once said…A true hero is someone who overcomes life's misfortunes. Go beyond. Plus Ultra! Now everyone, good luck suffering!"

Go beyond. Plus Ultra.

Izuku got in fanboy mode, barely containing his happiness from radiating and annoying the other people around him that were unimpressed and rather gloomy.

After that, they were allowed some time to change into whatever comfortable clothes they had brought with them. Izuku put on his tracksuit in the privacy of a bathroom stall instead of the busy changing rooms. He couldn't change in front of others, or they'd see…

When the students were all ready to go, the personnel ushered them into buses that transported them to the exam sites.

And soon, the exams began.

.

.

.

Izuku's dark green eyes darted around. It was chaos. There were dozens of flaming wreckages blocking the path ahead. He had to scramble over chunks of metal that used to be parts of the faux villain robots. Other people rushed past him, searching for any remaining targets.

Zero points. All this time, he had not brought down a single robot.

' _Don't give up! If I can just get one point…'_ he told himself and with greeted teeth, continued to run.

There.

A large robot appeared at the corner. It was large enough to tower over him. Even from afar, it looked intimidating enough to make his knees weak.

' _Focus…Focus!'_

He extended his arm and pretended that his hands were crushing the metal while staring at the robot and imagining its bulky exterior caving in.

' _Focus...!'_

He… he was making progress! A bump had started to form on the metal as if there was some invisible pressure there.

Then it was all over. Iida Tenya, the student that indirectly told him to shut up, flew like a bullet across the road, sending a wave of hot air at him, and kicked the faux villain with all his might. The robot broke apart from the force, and the pieces landed several feet apart. The tall boy didn't even look behind him, running off to the next target.

Izuku was left with trembling lips and on the verge of tears.

"Wh- No, this is not the time for distractions. I need to… If I could just get one point…"

The loudspeakers announced that there were only two minutes left. Only two minutes. One hundred and twenty seconds, and less, because they were ticking away…

Izuku wiped the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve.

Suddenly, there was an awful sound of breaking walls, and a tremor ran through the empty buildings and streets of the exam site. What in the world was that?

Apparently, a gigantic robot, too gigantic for any puny human to take on. No way, that thing was too big, even for Kacchan.

"It's the zero points!"

"It's destroying everything!"

"This is bad!"

The examinees were running for their lives.

The robot's movements had spread clouds of dust everywhere and created more rubble. Izuku felt the earth shake violently under his shoes and lost his balance, falling harshly on the rough, cold cement. He curled into a ball and put his arms over his head to protect himself from the crowd that ran, quite literally, over him towards safety.

He needed to get out of there. Now.

But something stopped him from turning towards safety as he got back on his feet. Someone was calling for help.

Where?

He scanned the area like a hawk, searching frantically for that someone that was in distress until his eyes landed on her: the nice person! A piece of concrete, at least twice as big as her body, had trapped her legs with its weight. She had a look that meant that what she was experiencing was painful, but mostly, it showed her panic.

A shadow covered her, and she ceased struggling. Her brown eyes widened and she looked up. The giant robot was ready to squash her like an ant. Surely, the examiners would not allow it. They would stop the faux villain from doing anything to her… wouldn't they?

Izuku launched himself forward. His face had contorted. His lungs were burning from the effort, but the adrenaline made sure that he would keep going. He was seating like a pig, and some saliva had rolled down his chin, but none of that mattered. What mattered was getting there on time.

' _I won't make it! I need to do something! Anything! Or else, the good person will-'_

While on the run, he spread his arm forward and motioned with his hand as if he were trying to flick the image away. He imagined it clearly and wished it with all his heart, wished that the rubble would be flung away and stop causing her pain.

The chunk of concrete was there for one second, and then it wasn't. By some mysterious means, it took off and swooshed upwards at a great speed, as if All Might himself had hurled it. It went on and on, finding its way to the giant robot's head-like structure.

Upon impact, the awful sound of metal being crunched made the examinees shiver and turn around to see what was going on.

The concrete had pierced it. Through the gaping hole, one could clearly see the blue sky. Some cables hung like loose thread from a rug, shooting yellow sparks.

Two more pieces of rubble suddenly shot through the robot as well. Then three more, then four more, then five, a ruthless rain of rubble. Each dealt a formidable amount of damage to the giant, turning its thorax into Swiss cheese. Multiple explosions occurred at its sensitive spots, the sound echoing all throughout the empty city.

"H-Hey! It's going down!"

"Seriously?"

Every single person had stopped in their tracks to stare in awe as the zero points faux villain, the biggest robot they had ever seen off TV, collapsed.

Izuku's arm fell limply to his side. A wave of excruciating pain hit him. This was the worst headache he had ever experienced. It hurt so much that it made him want to fall down right then and there and go to sleep to escape it. But he couldn't, not yet.

Slowly, he staggered towards the girl that was still lying on the ground. She glanced at him, shock evident on her face.

"Are you ok?" Izuku asked and offered her a hand. "Can you stand?"

"I…I…" her eyes became watery. She tried moving her legs and found that nothing was broken. "Thank you…"

The girl grabbed his hand and he pulled her up. She was light, like a feather. Izuku was too preoccupied with the pain to process the situation; that he had, in fact, just held a girl's hand.

"You look a bit pale… Are you feeling alright?"

"Hm?" he squinted, trying to refocus on her.

She frowned with concern. "You're swaying like one of those floppy balloon-people in front of gas stations…"

"I really need to get one point…If I could get just one…" he mumbled.

With his last thought being that, Izuku blacked out. The girl gasped with surprise when he collapsed like a lifeless doll before her feet.

The loudspeakers announced that the exams were over.

She instantly felt bad for him. He had wasted all this energy for her, he had saved her, but he had not gotten a single point all this time, despite having such a powerful quirk. The desperation in his voice when he uttered 'just one point' had tied her stomach into a knot.

"Ok, good work! Good work!"

An old lady with wrinkly cheeks, short as an elementary student, made way through the crowd with her cane (a cane that looked disturbingly like a big syringe). She held a few candies in her free hand and offered them to some of the students that her experienced eye deemed tired before finally reaching the fallen boy.

"Oh, my. What seems to be the problem here?"

"He just suddenly collapsed…" the girl replied.

"Overuse… probably. He'll be fine if he gets some rest. But just for good measure…" the nurse of U.A. said and bent down. With her thick, dry lips, she kissed the top of his green hair.

The brunette didn't take her eyes off the freckled boy who had stayed behind to help her.

.

.

.

"Izuku? W-Why are you smiling at the fish?"

The chopsticks released the fish, which fell back on the plate lifelessly. Izuku looked at his mother and realized that he had messed up big time. He had seriously scared her.

"I-It's nothing. I'm fine! Just… thinking about the exams…"

She nodded in understanding, but her eyes were still wide and frightened. "The results will arrive soon… today or tomorrow…"

"Yeah…"

"Izuku, results don't mean anything about who you are. You will always be my brave little boy, your mum's hero. Don't you forget that."

Despite the gloominess, he smiled. "I can't forget, can I?"

He had barely passed the written exams. And with the big fat zero at the practical, there was absolutely no way that he had made it.

Midoriya Inko watched worriedly as her All-Might-pajama-clad son got up from the table after finishing his dinner and walked up to the couch, where he plunged in the comfort of the furniture.

"How about a movie night?" she suggested, hoping that he would agree.

There was a muffled reply, and Izuku raised his arm high to show her the thumbs up, but his face remained pressed against the pillows.

"I'll go get some popcorn then. You'll stay here, right? You'll wait for me to come home?"

Izuku finally lifted his head to look at her. It was a sincere, reassuring gaze. "Of course mum. I will be waiting." He was aware of her fear that he would do something stupid during her absence. It hurt to see her so scared, hesitating to leave her own house because of him. "I promise."

She inhaled deeply and exited the room. "I won't be gone for long"

Izuku sulkily reached for the TV controller set on the little table. He rarely watched TV, but he really felt like taking his mind off of things. But the small, rectangular device was too far away. How irritating. Maybe if he tried…

The controller suddenly rose in the air and shot forward, smacking his face. Izuku withheld a curse and rubbed his aching nose. The lamp that hung from the ceiling flickered for a second.

"IZUKU!"

He gasped and stood upright at his mother's shrill cry. She had crawled all the way from the door so as not to dirty the floor with her shoes.

"Izuku! Iz-Izuku! I-I-I-It's here!"

She held up an envelope. Izuku recognized it right away. It was here. The letter was here. It was finally time for the results. He got up from the couch and took the letter from her shaking hand. Without a word, the green-haired teen headed directly to his room and shut the door behind him. This was something he needed to do alone.

Izuku sat down in his chair and turned on the lamp of his desk. The rest of the room was dark. It was only him and the letter, with the formal, crimson seal of U.A.

He considered throwing it away for a split second, but discarded the thought. He couldn't back away from the truth. An answer had been given, and he needed to know. The boy tried to extinguish the flame of hope that burned in his subconscious. There was no way that he had made it.

' _Might as well get this over with'_

Izuku snatched the envelope and tore it apart. Something fell out.

"Greetings, Midoriya Izuku! I am here as a projection, as one of the designated teachers of U.A. for this year!"

All Might! This was really All Might, staring at him from the screen, that mountain of a man, with his blindingly bright smile and golden hair! The number one hero, the symbol of peace! All Might was speaking to him! And what was that that he had said? Teaching at U.A.?

Wait… was he going to be told that he had been rejected by the Hero himself? He had already been told to _'dream realistically'_ once. He dreaded what was to come. But still, why would All Might announce the results then? It didn't make sense…

"You did good on the written exam but got zero points at the practical. Of course, that would mean you didn't pass…"

He had known. He had known from the start. But it was so frustrating to hear it again.

The lamp on his desk inexplicably shut off, and All Might's projection flickered with uncertainty. A hum was building up.

"…if that was all there was to the exams. Look here, young Midoriya!"

…What?

He wiped away the tears from his eyes. There was a girl on the screen… the nice person! What was she doing?

"Excuse me… That person…with the curly hair? Do you know who I'm talking about? Short, with freckles…Kind of plain-looking…"

She was talking about him.

"He- He saved me! And I heard him say, 'If I could just get one point'… He was aware of the limited time, and the points he needed to get but saved me instead. I… Can I give him some of points? Please!"

The image changed again and All Might appeared.

"Your actions even spurred others into action. And it's not only that; how could we not accept someone who has the qualities of a hero, who goes over his limits for the sake of others? We had judges that were watching and assigning rescue points. That's why, Midoriya Izuku, you scored a clear sixty points! Congratulations! You pass!"

You pass, you pass, you pass…

The words went round and round, echoing over and over in his mind.

The lamp turned on with a popping sound, brighter than before. Izuku noticed that he had stopped breathing. He got up, pushing his chair backwards.

"Mum!"

The door opened immediately. The chubby green-haired woman entered with an expression of dread. They looked at each other with wide eyes and shock. Then, very slowly, Izuku's lips curled upwards, forming a smile.

"I passed!"

"Y-Y-You… You passed!" she repeated, and a grin popped on her face. "Oh, Izuku! I'm so happy for you!" she motioned for him to come closer and wrapped her arms around him.

"Mum, please don't cry again…" he joked and hugged her tightly.

"I can't help it!"

.

.

.

.

April.

The petals were everywhere; they had sneaked into the creases of his brand new school uniform, they had covered the rooftops of cars like pink snow, they had become a fuzzy carpet for streets and ponds, and were still falling like a soft, spring drizzle. The cherry blossom trees kept shedding them like cats.

He made his way through the campus, admiring everything around him like the fanboy he was. Once again he had come to the school, but this time he had the right to call himself, with pride and joy, a U.A. student.

"Wh-where was I supposed to go again?" he mumbled and looked down at the map that he had printed. He had circled the room that he needed to find with a red marker. U.A. was huge, and time would be needed to get used to it and learn every nook and cranny.

According to the map, the building that he was searching for was… Actually, where was he? He had no idea.

Izuku scratched his head. "I guess I'll have to go back to the main building and find my way from there…"

"Oh? You're from the first years, aren't you?"

He lifted his gaze from the paper. An unknown woman had approached him. She had her black hair styled partially in a loose bun, with the rest down to her shoulders and a few strands falling at the sides of her face. A cape swayed in the breeze behind her shoulders. Her outfit was that of a hero, and she was well-built, but Izuku didn't recall seeing her in any magazines or videos…

"Um…"

"What's your name?" she asked with a kind smile.

"M-Midoriya Izuku!"

"Oh, I see! You're the student that scored sixty on the entrance exams just with rescue points!"

Izuku felt like exploding from a simultaneous mix of embarrassment and pride.

"I can show you to your classroom if you want, Midoriya!"

"R-Really?"

"Sure! I've got some free time!" She ruffled his hair.

He beamed with gratitude. "Thank you very much!"

She walked with confidence, her hands resting on her hips. For every step she took, he had to take three. Izuku felt bad for not knowing the woman's name. She seemed like the kind of hero that people would notice. Maybe she was still new on the job…

"We're almost there. Better not fall behind!"

"Yes!" he picked up his pace. "Um… excuse me… I'm afraid I don't know you…"

"If you knew me without me telling you, I'd be disturbed." She laughed. It was a deep, hearty sound. "I quit fighting on the field a long time ago because of an injury, so it's not a surprise that I'm not popular. My name is Shimura Nana."

"Ah…I'm…I'm so-"

"You don't have to apologize, it's all right. I'm happy with how things are. Besides, I now have all the time in the world to watch after the students. An especially troublesome student of mine, in particular... Seriously, that kid is so reckless! Here we are, Midoriya. This is your classroom."

He stared in awe at the brown door with the number 1 and the letter A painted in red. It was way too big, like everything in the school, it seemed. This was it… Inside, he would meet his new classmates. He needed to be calm and collected and not lose the chance to make a good impression. This time, he was determined to claim a place among peers…

"You look nervous." The woman remarked.

"I am, a little…" he admitted timidly.

"You need only open the door, and everything else will flow. Squeeze your buttocks and shout this within your heart – Plus Ultra!" Shimura put her fist high up in the air.

He nodded, his eyes glinting with admiration. "Thank you, Shimura-san!"

She laughed again and patted his shoulder with her heavy hand. "No problem, Midoriya! I'll be wandering around, so don't hesitate to come to me if you have any questions."

"Yes! Thank you!" he bowed deeply.

The woman's cape disappeared at the end of the corridor. She strode fast, with the air of an experienced hero.

' _She's cool…'_ Izuku thought and pushed the door. It glided smoothly on the floor. _'I wonder what kind of people my classmates are…'_

* * *

HA! And that is all for this chapter.

I have a question for you, readers! Who do you think All Might should choose for his successor? Izuku? Todoroki? Bakugou? Someone else? Or… maybe he won't even pass his quirk on… Hmm… I didn't think of the implications before. Oh well, it's a challenge that I need to overcome.

I hope you liked it, despite it being similar to the exams episode.

Thank you very much for reading!

Until next time! PLUS ULTRA! (fun fact, I decided to set passwords for my fanfiction documents so that my nosy family wouldn't see anything if they were to accidentally stumble upon them. And, of course, what was the password? That's right… Plus ultra.)

Have a nice day! :)


	5. Chapter 4

Okay, so, once again, THANK YOU!

Thank you to the followers, thank you to the favourite-ers (is there a word to use?), thank you to the reviewers, thank you to those who have been reading this story for a while now, thank you to those who have just discovered it and are binge-reading, just thanks!

I think we can all agree that Bakugou shouldn't be given One for All. I'm still not sure what I'll do with One for All, but I thought of some peculiar possibilities, like Hagakure with One for All. Can you just imagine? Invisible and stronger than any human, that would be one heck of a combination. And then I thought: Hmm, who else is someone that is rarely considered as a successor? And I had the funniest thought: Mineta! Oh Potato, NO! Never gonna happen. Anyways, I wanted to share that with you because I was laughing by myself about it.

So, without further ado, here is the chapter! Enjoy!

(Please forgive any careless mistakes and discrepancies, I almost never proofread as you must have noticed by now)

* * *

"Don't you think that putting your feet on the table shows disrespect for those who sat here before us?"

"Ha? What the hell are you going on about, side character?"

"Side character?"

Izuku scratched the back of his neck nervously. There were already two people that did not regard him well in his classroom, the first one being Bakugou, and the other being Iida Tenya, the one who had rudely accused him of taking everything lightly during the exams.

"Oh?" the tall, muscular boy with the boxy glasses noticed him standing awkwardly in the doorway. "You are…"

All the pairs of eyes in the classroom, of people that he did not have enough time to look at, turned to him. The attention he was receiving made his stomach ache form the anxiousness. He noticed some traits that stood out from the ones at the front rows; someone with spiky red hair, a guy with many webbed arms, a pink-skinned girl, another guy with a tail and-Too much attention!

"A-E-A-Good morning!" he blurted out. "My name is Midoriya Izuku. Nice to meet you!"

The boy with the glasses left Bakugou and approached him with steady steps. Izuku took a little step backwards, unsure of how to act. But the boy didn't seem to have any ill intentions. If anything, he was trying to be friendly, in his own austere way.

"Midoriya-kun… My name is Iida Tenya. We were at the same exam site during practicals."

Izuku's eyes darted around. "Yeah…"

Iida fixed his glasses, all serious. "Midoriya. You realized that there was something more to those exams, didn't you? I had no idea…And I made light of your convictions… I apologize!" He waved his hands around, always keeping his fingers together, which gave them kind of a square look. "It may be a bit frustrating, but I admit that you are better than me!"

"Sorry, I didn't actually realize anything…" Izuku mumbled.

"Ah! You're the plain looking one!-"

He turned around, coming face to face with… the nice person, with that bright smile and rosy cheeks, and- She looked good in that school uniform!

"-You passed, just like Present Mic said! Of course you did! When you brought down that huge robot it was amazing!" She raised her fist up, then tilted her head to the side. "Hey, what kind of quirk was that? Did you really not use it until the end of the exam with the zero points? Ah, I wonder what our teachers are going to be like…"

Izuku just listened to the questions and nodded without registering them. His cheeks were red like a tomato, and he was trying to avoid eye-contact as much as possible, slowly leaning away from the cheerful nice person. Next to him, Iida waited patiently to introduce himself at the first given chance. _'Is this… I'm talking to new people…'_ Izuku thought suddenly. He had been stuck with the same people since kindergarten before, but here he was, with new classmates that were treating him like an equal, so far at least.

"If you want to play friends go somewhere else," said a tired, flat voice.

The three heads slowly turned around like rusty screws, unsure of what they would see.

There was a long yellow sleeping bag lying on the floor, next to the girl's feet, like an overgrown caterpillar that was too fat to turn into a butterfly anymore, more probably into a pterodactyl. The zip slid down and the gloomiest face appeared, pale as a ghost's and short of dehydrated. Underneath reddish eyes, there were etched black bags. There was soft, barely noticeable stubble on his cheeks, and what appeared like the remains of a badly shaved of mustache and beard.

The gloomy man sucked the life out of a juice pack, which reduced into a miserable form of plastic, and then slowly rose, shedding the sleeping bag. It was not a pterodactyl, but, well, still a fossil… His clothes were black and plain. His greasy ebony hair was tangled and messy like a bush, and the scarf wrapped around his neck, or more accurately, covering him from shoulders to chin, if anyone could call it a scarf at all, looked as tattered as the rest of him. He was a man fed up with the world.

"It took you eight seconds before you were quiet. Time is limited. You kids are not rational enough." He stepped out of the sleeping bag completely. The worn out man took a look at the confused faces that stared at him from within the classroom. "I'm your homeroom teacher, Aizawa Shota." He informed them, and then added, out of obligation, "Nice to meet you."

The class just gazed back blankly. He didn't show to care for the lack of response and searched through his sleeping bag. Aizawa retrieved one of the many red-blue tracksuits that he had stuffed in there and held it up so that everyone would see.

"It's kind of sudden, but put these on and go out onto the field."

The teacher started to throw the clothes on the nearest desk, startling the student occupying it.

"Come on, we haven't got the whole day."

People stood up and went to the pile of tracksuits. Iida and the nice person went to pick one for themselves too. Izuku observed the crowd and felt the need to step away from all the ruckus. Bakugou was the first one to dash out of the classroom to head to the changing room.

"Here. I think this is going to fit you since we're about the same height…"

Izuku blinked with surprise. He looked down at the tracksuit that he was being offered. "Th-Th-Thank you!" he shouted, and his high-pitched voice cracked awfully. "Um…"

"It's Uraraka, Uraraka Ochaco. No problem!"She smiled at him and went on ahead.

Izuku's grip on the tracksuit tightened and he exited the classroom. He was excited about whatever had to do with hero training, and from the looks of it, they were about to start with something big. But first things first, he needed to put on the U.A. tracksuit and marvel at it for the rest of the day.

.

.

When the whispers died down, Aizawa motioned for the most tough-looking student, a boy who was smirking too wildly for the teacher's taste, to come forward and handed him the small white ball.

"Go."

Bakugou went to stand to the middle of the circle and did a little stance, like a baseball player, before crying out a horrifying "DIE!" and throwing the ball with an explosion that sent waves of hot air into everyone's face. Izuku patted his hair to make it settle down in place again.

Aizawa held up the phone-like device. 705.3

"This is what you should account for as average. This is the hero course. It is not a place for you to fool around. I expect you to put yourselves to work."

There were silent exchanges of stares.

"Oh, yeah, and whoever comes last in this assessment will be expelled. I don't need people who are not serious about committing to heroics in this class."

"Whaaat?!"

Izuku could almost feel the earth disappear beneath him. Quirk assessment, and he could barely activate his quirk at will, let alone control it. But he could not afford to get expelled.

"Expelled? Is that allowed?" Uraraka muttered beside him.

"Sir!" Iida held his hand up, waving it around with urgency.

Aizawa ignored the tall boy and pointed to a boy with yellow hair and a few strands of black, who flinched at the gesture. "You there. Kaminari, wasn't it? Your turn."

"My turn?... All right. I'll give this a try…" the golden-eyed student was quick to regain his composure and confidently entered the circle.

"Asui Tsuyu" Aizawa called.

A short, black-haired girl stepped front.

"You're up next."

They waited for the yellow-haired kid to throw, and then for the frog-like girl's turn. Kaminari appeared to have an electricity quirk, but it didn't seem to help with the rubber white ball… Asui, to everyone's surprise, revealed a long tongue with which she hurled the ball up into the air, and it landed quite far away. Izuku tried to make a mental note of their movements and the way the utilized their quirks, amazed by the skilled control they had over their gift.

"Sato Rikido."

A nervous muscular boy with brown hair and full lips stepped forward.

Just like that, Aizawa kept calling names.

Izuku looked around. The rest of his classmates were preparing by activating and deactivating quirks, stretching, trying to concentrate, or… just standing around with a hand on the hips, when it came to a specific blond with a flashy belt around his waist. Noticing the freckled teen's glance, the other student waved at him with a chuckle. Izuku awkwardly turned around.

"You look worried," said the pink-skinned girl to him suddenly. Her hair had the color of bubble gum, and two little horns were protruding from the top of her head.

Izuku tried to smile politely and keep the reddening of his cheeks to a minimum.

"I heard that you brought down the zero points at the practical exam."

"Oh, ah, um, kinda, I guess so…"

"Then there's not much to be worried about. Most of us couldn't put a dent onto that thing. You're going to do fine." She reassured him. "I'm Ashido Mina by the way."

"M-Midoriya Izuku…" he said, although it was obvious that she had already heard of his name.

"Ashido Mina!" Aizawa called suddenly, and the bubble-gum-colored girl headed to the circle.

Izuku felt the presence of something ominous and turned around, coming face to face with a short boy that had weird purple spheres for hair, a feature that probably had something to do with his quirk. Izuku got ready to introduce himself, but the smile froze on his face and he took a step back seeing as the other student just pointed at his eyes with two fingers, then at him, in a threatening manner.

Izuku felt a heavy hand land on his shoulder and turned around.

"Ignore him." Said the spiky-red-haired teen that was standing next to him and his hand shook Izuku's frail body with friendly pats. "I'm Kirishima. And you are Midoriya, right? I overheard."

"Y-Yes, nice to meet you."

"Yeah! Nice to meet you too. Man, my shoulder's stiff after that throw." He swung his arm in circles and then gave him a toothy grin. "I didn't do that well, but I think I'll be fine. What about you?"

"I uh, I haven't been called yet." Izuku scratched his cheek nervously.

"Oh, I see. Hey, aren't you hot with this weather? I mean, it's not summer yet, but the sun is shining, and we're exercising, so…"

He looked down at the sleeves of the shirt that he wore underneath the tracksuit, glad that he had thought ahead and shoved an extra set of clothes in his school bag in the morning despite his heavy eyelids and frequent yawning. "Is that so? I think it's still too cold outside. Sweating in cold weather is no good."

"That sounded like my mom. No offense, it was a thoughtful comment." Kirishima patted him again, and Izuku stumbled.

" _Midoriya Izuku."_

The green-haired boy gave a soft yelp and stood up straight in attention. The gloomy teacher with the droopy eyes looked up from his notebook with subtle impatience. Izuku let his legs carry him to the centre of the white circle on automate, with a stupid grin plastered on his face. Aizawa withheld a sigh and passed him a new ball, since the other one was too far away for him to retrieve. Izuku was amazed by the fact that he managed to catch the ball and not drop it from all the shaking that his hands did. Somewhere behind him, he heard a spiteful curse escape Bakugou's mouth, but that did not matter at the moment. What mattered was him getting a good enough score.

Izuku stared down at the ball in his hand, curling and uncurling his fingers around it. He needed it to fly up, as far away as possible. It was a simple task. Just like the carrot that he had sent up to the ceiling. A piece of cake, nothing to be worried about…

"Hey, Midoriya. Quit muttering and go at it already. Time's limited." Aizawa sighed.

Izuku closed his mouth, only now realizing that he had been mumbling again, and raised his arm. Simple, simple, simple… He just had to focus… He threw the ball.

The white round object flew straight forward, and all looked well for a brief three seconds before it changed course like a boomerang. Instead of slowing down, it was speeding up. Izuku tried to dodge, but it was too late. The ball hit his stomach, pushing all air out of his lungs and bringing him to his knees. He coughed violently, trying to catch his breath.

"What the hell was that, Midoriya? Do you think this is time for fooling around?"

"No sir, I w-!"

What looked like yellowish grey ribbons wrapped his legs and bound them together, then pulled, bringing him down to the ground, and dragged him mercilessly on the dirt up to the teacher's black boots. Izuku whimpered in dismay. Aizawa gazed at him with a look of disgust.

"You can't even control your quirk and you want to become a hero? Don't make me laugh. It's pathetic guys like you that make heroes look bad. You have zero potential, yet you want to show off. Listen here, kid. Control is everything. If a hero has immense strength, he should know how to hold a month-old baby and bring it to safety without squishing its head. It's absurd that you still have no control. If you go on like this, you're going to be a nuisance for those around doesn't need you to run around and cause trouble. We already have enough to deal with as it is."

The ribbons –bandages, Izuku corrected himself, loosened. He crawled back to his knees, panting.

The teacher still remained expressionless, despite the things he had said. He offered him another ball. "Now, try again. You only have one more chance to prove me wrong, kid. Make the best of it."

The ball rolled to the ground in front of him with a puff of dust. Izuku didn't take his eyes off it. He just breathed in and out, trying to calm himself down. The teacher's words had definitely been harsh, but they held true, and he was used to harshness. Reality was something that, just like ice cubes smashed between the tender gum and hard white teeth, he had to chew it with care and swallow it fast. The quicker you accept it, the sooner you will try to find solutions to your problems in different ways.

Izuku stood up and wiped the dirt off his tracksuit, with the ball in his now stable hand, and aimed, without hesitation, at the direct opposite of where he was supposed to. The rest of the class broke out in panic and disassembled to save themselves from the impending throw.

A few white teeth showed through Aizawa's thin, dehydrated lips. As if a mysterious breeze was blowing, his long black hair swayed, slowly rising up. There was a red glint in his eyes. "What do you think you're doing?"

The ball was flung forward with extreme speed, becoming a white blur that ripped the air abruptly. It didn't go far, however, as it suddenly changed direction, just like before. Izuku, anticipating the hit this time, rolled on the ground to dodge, and the ball flew past him with an angry whoosh, missing the green bangs on the side of his face by the width of a finger. It disappeared from view.

Aizawa glanced down at the measuring device incredulously. The numbers changed rapidly for a few slow seconds before the ball started losing speed. Finally, the screen stopped flickering, indicating that it had finally fallen down. The teacher's lips curled upwards. He smirked, which was unusual for the cold and distant pro hero.

"What's this, Midoriya. I'll be damned."

With wide eyes, Izuku stared at the number that had shown up. He had done it. He had reached Bakugou's score.

The rest of the students gathered back to the spot with happy smiles, glad that they hadn't been victimized by their classmate's throw. Izuku found himself smiling as well, unable to believe that what he did on a whim had actually worked out. There was only one particular face in the crowd that seemed to be anything but relieved, but Izuku tried not to focus on. Bakugou was not having a good time.

"It went so far! You've got a great quirk."

Izuku turned around to look at the approaching brunette with the gravity-related quirk and the tall bespectacled boy.

"You dealt with the matter in a very calm manner. Once again I see how wrong my initial judgment of you was." Iida told him with seriousness (seriousness was that boy's usual state, it seemed)

"T-Thanks, Iida-kun." He mumbled, unsure of how to reply to the statement other than with awkward gratitude.

"That was really clever, Deku-kun!"

He looked at the joyfully smiling girl with sudden nervousness. Why would she call him that?

"You didn't let what the teacher said get to you! And the score you got was above average for the whole class. Nice job!" she praised.

"Th-Th-Thank you… I-I'm sorry, but, actually, my name isn't Deku…" he tried to clear the misunderstanding with a nervous grin, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Eh? It's not?" her smile melted away and she tilted her head to one side. "But that's what your friend called you…" she glanced at Bakugou, who was sulking several feet away from them, not aware of her gaze.

"Deku is what Kacchan calls me to make fun of me. My name is Midoriya Izuku…" the freckled teen explained.

"I see… An offending nickname." Iida nodded and fixed his glasses.

"But…" Uraraka looked down with slanted shoulders "…'Deku' has a kind of 'you can do it!' feel to it… so it's not all bad, so I thought…"

Izuku's face lit like red Christmas lights and the smile on his face grew wide enough to be considered disturbing.

"I'M DEKU!"

"…Are you sure?"

"You accepted that pretty fast, Midoriya…" the tall blue-eyed boy remarked subtly.

"Ok, everyone. " The teacher shouted to be heard above the talking students "Follow me to the gym".

The students tried to stick close to the slouching man, whose steps seemed to get bigger and bigger, and the students had to trot, then later run and sprint, so as not to fall behind. When they arrived at the huge building, he stood silently above them, unbothered and not having broken a sweat, although the kids were trying to catch their breaths desperately. Izuku looked around while hearing the inhales and exhales that came from his own mouth. The lavish, extravagant equipment that he had seen advertised on magazines before was gone, probably to allow for space to exercise. It was spacious and bright, with a ceiling high above and windows with thick glass only at the second floor –why yes, there was a second floor, or rather, a narrow balcony-like structure that ran on the walls, a place for spectators to sit.

"Kids these days do not know what being a hero means." Aizawa muttered, then continued slightly louder (though his voice sounded flat both in whispers and shouts) "Alright, now that you made it, I want to test your strength." He pointed at a row of devices that were already waiting for them on the smooth brown floor of the gym. "Even if you don't know how to use one, I believe you're not so stupid as to not figure it out."

"HA! Bring it on!"

Of course, Bakugou was of the first ones to grab one and start yelling like some comic character as he forced his muscles to do his best. The vein on his forehead was bulging. Izuku gulped and timidly picked up the device from the floor.

"My quirk is not suited for this…" he heard a girl with dark purple uneven bangs mumble behind him.

' _I don't think I even know what my quirk is…'_ Izuku thought with a desperate frown slowly forming on his face.

"I'm getting bored already. This is one of the quickest tests. What's taking you so long?" Aizawa told the class, and every student that still wasn't trying to squish a device with their hands rushed to the few remaining ones.

The green-haired boy pinched himself to collect his thoughts. So far, he had made the most progress with an ability… telekinesis? So, the first ability was telekinesis. The second, which he still wasn't able to activate at will, was levitating. The third was... did that dream about tomatoes even count as anything? And the fourth one, well, communicating with the dead, again not useful at the moment.

So, telekinesis it was. He just had to apply that invisible pressure like in the practical exam. Grip strength was what the test was all about. He looked down at the numbers that flickered on the small screen of the device, indicating how much power he was putting into it, and tried to concentrate on the thought.

Meanwhile, the boy with the bird-like features closed his beak with relief. His freckled classmate had been mumbling ominously for the past minute but had finally become quiet, allowing him the silence he needed to focus on the task at hand.

For a moment, nobody noticed a thing. Then one of the students noticed that something was wrong and the volume of whispers started to increase.

"H-Hey… Midoriya…"

Izuku didn't take his eyes off the screen but flinched at his name being called all of the sudden. "Y-Yes?"

"Midoriya… watch out, you might hit your head."

"E-Excuse me?"

"The ceiling." Iida mouthed the words slowly, as if not to startle him.

Izuku finally looked away from the numbers and gasped. Everyone was giving him a weird look - from way down below because he was currently hovering very close to the ceiling, and worse, not slowing down. He shut his eyes tightly and put an arm over his neck. He bumped lightly on the cold surface without any flashy side effects, non-majestically, like a stray balloon whose escape by the sweaty hands of a child was sadly prevented by the confinement.

Uraraka panicked. "Oh gosh! I'm so sorry! I must have accidentally touched you and subconsciously activated my quirk!" she said with a hand over her mouth and shocked wide eyes.

Izuku wanted to say that she didn't have to feel bad about it, but the only thing that escaped his throat was a frightened squeal as the girl got ready to put her hands together in the same manner she had done in the practical exam when deactivating her quirk, something that he happened to notice during the first few minutes of the exam.

"Release!"

"W-Wait!" he yelled and waved his hands around frantically, dreading the pain of the fall. He considered the slight possibility of getting his ankle sprained.

"Huh? That's strange… Nothing's happening…" the girl tilted her head with a clouded from confusion face. "Let me try again…Release!... I don't get it, why doesn't it work?"

Oh. So it wasn't her quirk. This was all Izuku's fault once again.

Something pink suddenly wrapped itself around Izuku's waist and pulled him down. He was gently placed back on the floor and everyone sighed with relief as if a fragile vase had made it safely back to its shelf. Izuku turned to face his savior with red cheeks. "T-Th-Thank you!" he told the girl that, if he remembered correctly, was called Asui.

The raven-haired nodded to him kindly. "Don't mention it."

"Ok, enough with the dramas. I've seen enough already to make me rethink my decision to accept this position as instructor. If they're paying me to teach you, I think I'll have to consider quitting."

Everyone was silenced, as the teacher that had spoken slowly walked up to the rosy-cheeked brunette, who trembled at the sight of the gloomy figure approaching.

"I don't know what you've come here to do when you can't even deactivate your own quirk."

She shrunk in place, wishing to melt away and seep into the floor and be forgotten, like a coffee stain that has mingled with the swirly brown spots on the wooden floorboards of a lonely cafeteria. Her cheeks turned even redder with embarrassment. "S-Sir, I-"

"It's not her fault!"

Curious eyes turned to the short boy that had abruptly raised his voice.

"That was not her quirk! It was mine! I was the one who was careless and let it get out of hand again!" he said, gazing into the black, droopy eyes with emerald ones that burned with passion and the need for righteousness.

Aizawa didn't back out of the stare that the student had initiated.

"So you have fused quirks, huh. You could give a decent explanation by saying that you've only used one of the two quirks in your whole life and that's why you can't handle one of them well. But seeing that both of your quirk's aspects that you've exhibited so far are beyond your control makes me wonder if you're doing this on purpose because you think it's a joke and you want to be the class clown, or if you have another ability you're proficient at but aren't using for some reason."

Three-quirked people, or people with three quirks that had fused, were very rare. Izuku recalled an article that he read a long time ago about the seventy-four people on the planet that, extraordinarily, had three quirks. There was only one person in the world with four quirks, and that was a very famous six-year-old living in faraway Brazil.

Izuku was not sure how to classify himself. He definitely needed to look into it more. Where could this peculiar quirk stem from? Sure, his mother's quirk could explain the 'moving objects' thing, but what about the rest? Rin had said that it wasn't a quirk at all but didn't provide an explanation.

He bit his lower lip and looked away.

Seeing the green-haired teen's uncertainty, Aizawa decided to let the matter drop. For the moment.

"Next up we have the one hundred meter run. Come with me."

.

.

.

Failure. A bitter word.

Every other test other than the first had gone terribly wrong for him. Izuku looked at the scores blankly. His name was last. He was at the end of the list.

"…Nobody is getting expelled! It was all a lie!"

Huh?

What?

A lie?

What a horrible teacher, making his students go through that much anguish! Aizawa smirked at the expense of the students without even trying to be subtle.

Slowly, the realization sank in and Izuku's heart rate returned to normal. He released all the air from his lungs and with it the pent-up anxiety. It scorched his throat as it came out, but it cooled down his overworking consciousness.

"That's great," Iida said and gave him a friendly pat, at which Izuku did his best not to flinch and instead gave a wacky smile.

.

.

.

Aizawa was not impressed by the bulky beast of a man that entered the room and his constant, silly grin.

"I am here! Ready to learn about my wonderful students!"

Too bright for Aizawa's standards. He sneered in disgust and turned back to the papers on his desk that needed sorting out.

All Might walked in, swinging his arms in large motions. Surprisingly, his steps were silent, and somehow his bulk didn't disturb the fragile nature of the teachers' office by sending sheets of paper flying around or random mugs dropping on the floor. Instead, it seemed perfectly natural when he plunged in his chair and took a sip from his red and blue U.A. coffee mug.

"You come in here just one day before your debut as a teacher with all of that enthusiasm… I honestly do not know if I should be positively or negatively surprised."

"Let's leave it to 'simply surprised' then, Recovery Girl…" All Might offered innocently.

The elderly woman's wrinkles got deeper, indicating that she was scowling. "Both of you are supposed to be competent teachers here at U.A., but I am starting to worry about the students' integrity. I can't have you showing that much irresponsibility when it comes to your duties." She scolded.

All Might's smile wavered nervously, and Aizawa thought it wise to avoid looking at her at all costs.

Recovery girl sighed and slowly trudged towards a drawer with the help of her weirdly-shaped syringe-like cane. Even though her knees were not stable, her hands were firm, and she had the sharp eyes of a doctor, thus easily locating and retrieving the binder with the folders of 1-A students. She had gone through each one carefully at least once, but it was time for the other two younger heroes to read.

"Here it is. I suggest you take into consideration every bit of detail when planning your lessons. I'd like to keep injuries to a minimum. Oh and, I'd suggest taking it easy with some of them… I'm saying this for you." She pointed at Aizawa accusingly with the tip of her syringe-cane.

The gloomy man calmly flipped through a document, still refusing to look at her. "They should get used to the pressure that pro heroes have to live with every day. Harsh criticism is a reality that they need to accept as soon as possible, wouldn't you agree?"

"That may be so, but they are still a bunch of kids. Your job is to introduce them to this 'reality' you speak of smoothly, not shove it into their faces. Some of them already know of it, and you should remind them gently. I'm sure you'll understand once you go through their folders."

Recovery Girl let the binder fall on All Might's desk, who started at the sound.

Aizawa made the mistake of meeting the elder's half-closed eyes. The message she was trying to convey was clear. With a sigh of defeat, he approached the ridiculously-dressed number one hero and leaned in to look at the folders. A pucker appeared between his eyebrows. All Might's hair's antennae were getting in the way. Was there anything not annoying about the man?

All Might opened the binder and grabbed the first folder.

"Put them back in the order you find them." Recovery Girl requested and silently exited the office.

All Might tried to ignore the uncomfortable knot that sat in his stomach because of the gloomy presence behind him. The teachers skimmed through the first couple of folders without stumbling upon anything particularly worth noting. They were, most of them, exemplary students, with average to good academic performance, and they had never gotten into trouble. Learning about their quirks would certainly prove useful for the future. The teachers could already get an idea of where effort for improvement was needed.

Some folders were slightly thicker than the rest. Curiously, All Might reached for one. 'Todoroki Shouto' the name read…

Aizawa's dry reddish eyes darted from line to line quicker than before.

"Young Todoroki…" All Might mumbled.

"He seemed quite serious in class today. One of the few that knew what they were getting at." Aizawa suddenly spoke.

The muscular man quietly picked up another folder. "Oh? This is the one that passed only with rescue points." He remarked and nodded to himself as he gazed at the smiling freckled face on the small square picture at the top. During the exams, he had thought that something about the boy was familiar… Maybe he was a fan whose notebook he had signed? He couldn't quite remember…

Then there was complete silence in the room as they read the rest of the folder. All Might's nervous tapping with a pen, which had been going on for quite a while without any of the two noticing, suddenly stopped and with that, a heavy wave of tension came reigning down on the pro heroes' shoulders.

This morning, Aizawa had naively come to the conclusion that the boy was simply wearing a long-sleeved shirt underneath the tracksuit because of the weather. The way he had smiled at everybody, cheerful and polite, would not suggest anything about the incident that had occurred less than a year before. It was now obvious why Recovery Girl had gotten angry.

"Young Midoriya was registered as quirkless just until now." All Might put a finger on the word 'quirkless' that was shown in a box on the document. "His quirk manifested fairly recently. That would explain why he had trouble with the exam…"

' _Quirk: Unspecified'_ Aizawa read with a displeased frown. "Something's been bugging me since this morning." He admitted, with dismay, to the number one hero. "Midoriya tried to use his quirk in a reckless way, so I tried to stop him but for some reason, my Erasure didn't work on him. He exhibited some kind of telekinetic and levitation abilities too. It's almost as if he was given a bunch of quirks as a free gift."

This was all too shady. Quirkless since birth even in puberty, suddenly got a quirk shortly before the U.A. entrance exams, a quirk that was too vague and complicated, and erasure hadn't worked on him.

"We should make sure young Midoriya learns to control his quirk then." All Might abruptly closed the folder.

The situation was bugging the number one hero too. Having a private talk with the young boy was going to be placed on the top of his priority list.

.

.

.

Izuku rubbed his face against the wooly blanket and settled comfortably in his cocoon. It was very quiet and dark in the house, and the furniture's were seen as dark shadows in dark shades. His mother had gone to sleep an hour ago. But he just couldn't force his eyes to close. There was so much to be done that sleep seemed impossible. He needed to improve, to gain better control.

The round light bulb above him flickered rhythmically. Izuku tried not to lose focus.

One-two-three, one-two-three…

It skipped a flash. Izuku sighed with frustration. The next flicker was brighter and made his eyes sting. He stopped. Maybe it was time to try something different.

He sat still for minutes, listening to his own breath and heartbeat. The shrill sound of a siren came and went. Something tiny snapped in the walls. A rustle, a mosquito, the buzzing fridge. The sounds of the apartment at night were terrifying at first, but the longer one heard, the more it seemed like a strange lullaby. Everything was moving even in stillness. There is never absolute silence in life.

"I'm…Deku…" Izuku mumbled to himself as he recalled the incident that morning. It filled him with happiness how simply she had overturned his fortune by giving a different meaning to the two syllables. He had felt a weight being lifted from his shoulders.

His emerald eyes opened very slowly. The ceiling was closer than before. The warmth of the bed was gone, leaving his back exposed to the cold. The blanket slid off his body.

Izuku looked at his pajamas' sleeves as they swayed in large, slow motions, and played with one of his green bangs that floated over his eyes as if in water. He giggled with wonder like a child that had put a lollipop in its mouth for the first time. He had done it!

Fascinated, Izuku flipped himself over like a burger, with a yelp out of fear that he might end up falling on the ground, but he remained airborne.

Ready to take things a step further, Izuku tried to swim through the air to reach his desk. He moved his legs up and down awkwardly, not sure what would work. Very slowly, he moved forward. He felt like an astronaut.

With another chuckle, the freckled teen extended his arm and picked up an All Might comic that he had left on the desk. The lamp turned on and shed bright light to define the shapes around him. Izuku opened the comic to a random page. Would reading break his concentration and cause him to fall?

"Nice going, Peter –or should I say Deku- Pan."

"GWAH!"

Izuku's chin slammed on his desk and greeted his teeth at the pain. "What the hell?" he cursed, which was very unusual, and immediately smacked both of his cheeks with open palms, guilty of the angry outburst. His neck hurt from the violent fall. He rubbed the aching spot and scrambled back on his legs with a groan.

Someone was laughing hysterically. Izuku frowned with annoyance and glared daggers at the ghost that was sitting on his bed with folded legs.

"What did you do that for?"

"It's fun to mess around with the living from time to time." Rin flicked her hair over her shoulders with a teasing smirk. The yellow cardigan shifted as she stood upright. "You know, I'm amazed that you still haven't come to see me. I was sure you'd have a lot of questions by now."

"I do have a lot of questions, yes… How long have you been here?"

"Long enough."

He sighed, deciding to get to the point right away. "What else can I do with this quirk?"

"…Didn't I tell you not to call it that?"

"Well, what else can I do with it?" he repeated the question with impatience.

"That depends on you. How far would you want it to go? So far, you wanted for things to move, for something to happen, you desperately wanted it, so there you have it, you can move things without touching them now. You wished for your fall to stop, so there you have it, you can fly. Talking to the dead, now that's because of my intervention…"

"I also think that I saw the future…"

"Oh, that one is annoying. Happens to the best of us." She waved her hand dismissively. "While I was still alive and kicking –though I assure you I am still kicking now- I dreamt for at least three weeks every night that my neighbor's dog was peeing on the mat at the porch. Turns out the animal had been doing it every day, I just hadn't realized." she burst out laughing.

"R-Right…" Izuku put up an awkward smile, watching the ghost as she gurgled and snorted with amusement. "Um… So what else should I be looking forward to? Shooting laser out of my eyes or something?" he said and gave a nervous laugh, half-joking.

"No, no. The worst one would be… let me think…" She held up a finer suddenly "Probably telepathy."

"Telepathy?!" Izuku squeaked at the word. His fanboy-side awakened and his face got red from the excitement. "That is like the quirk of famous communication heroine, Maru-"

"Whatever, it's not as amazing as it sounds. I bet you're going to hate it, telepathy that is. It sucks. Especially after you become so good at it that you advance to the next level. It's not going to be fun at all. What you're going to like, I'm certain, is the ability to..."

Rin went quiet.

"Hm?" Izuku made an incomprehensible sound to try to get her attention again, but she stared blankly at the wall behind him.

She got up and smiled at him. "You know, I'd love to stick around for longer, but we won't be able to talk anymore. Your mother's coming, Peter Pan."

"Peeta… Pan?" he titled his head to one side, very confused. " ...eh?…Bread?"

The ghost girl bit back the nasty laughter and made due with just the violent snorting as she phased through the wall. "Don't kids these days know a thing about fairy tales? Get some sleep, Deku Bread. You'll need it."

Izuku was not sure what to think of the atrocious nickname that she had cooked up for him, and he really didn't understand what this Peeta Bread was and how it fit in all of that, but Rin disappeared before he could say anything.

Just a second later, the door creaked open and a concerned, still drowsy Inko Midoriya entered. Her green hair was a tangled mess. She blinked with worry upon seeing her son leaning on his desk and approached him ready for any hugs or tears that might be needed.

"Izuku? I thought I heard something… What are you doing up so late? Are you ok?"

He felt bad for worrying her so much – again. "I'm fine mum, I just fell out of the bed… Sorry for waking you up."

…He was going to tell her everything… at some point.

* * *

So there you have it. A long chapter, longest one yet. Truth is, I intended to write only the first incident during the assessment, (the one with the ball-throwing), but I just felt that something was missing and wrote an extra scene (the one with the levitating).

Teachers are supposed to plan out lessons beforehand, right? And the students of the hero-course have quirks according to which the lessons should be planned. So naturally, the teachers would need to know about the students' quirks, and, of course, because the teens are going to become heroes, some details about their lives.

Oh, and that incident with Rin at the end, that was a sort of teaser for you. Izuku has yet to discover the perks of being an Esper. And, this scene was created for the sole purpose of throwing in that stupid pun. In case you didn't get it, パン ( _pan_ ) means bread in Japanese. That's why Izuku was so confused and thought that she was calling him 'bread'. In the Boku no Hero Academia universe, the year is, I think, 2060 at the least, (I'm probably wrong and it's way after that) , but my point is, it could make sense for the name Peter Pan to be unknown to a teenager after such a long time and so many shifts that occurred in society. Who reads about a boy who can fly with happy thoughts, when there are literally children controlling the weather, breathing fire, or turning mice into cups? (harry potter reference)

'Kay, that's the monologue from me. Thank you for reading!

Until next time!

 _Deku Bread!_ (I'll be finishing with this from now on because I think it's cute although it makes no sense whatsoever for it to be used as a close)


	6. Fools is 1st the month of day April?

The mountainous silhouette led the way the eternal wide grin. His height made the very sunlight form a halo ring of brightness around him, a coincidental allusion to his heroicness. Behind him followed the students, like a trail of insignificant ants in comparison. Happy smiles decorated most of their faces.

"A fine morning it is! A fine morning for the blooming youth! Come on, youth! Follow me!"

Izuku felt the excitement rush through his veins like some tangible form of energy, ready to explode any second now. Training with All Might. Yep. That's what he was going to do. He was going to do HERO TRAINING. With ALL MIGHT.

"Midoriya-kun, are you okay? Your face has turned all red…" a concerned Iida asked, increasing his pace to catch up to the ecstatic boy.

"I'm fine!" Izuku squealed a little too quickly, his voice cracking.

A scoff sounded from behind them. Izuku didn't need to look to know that it had been Bakugou. Bakugou had been huffing irritably with barely contained anger ever since they left the classroom, ever since the 'spiky-red-haired kid with the stupid pointy teeth' decided to stick by his side like a damn barnacle. A very noise barnacle too.

"What's the matter with you two, Midoriya-kun? Did you get in a fight or something? " Iida mumbled with a lowered voice.

"Ah, well, um, not quite… It was more like… I uh…" he paused, his eyes leaving All Might's back for the smooth white clouds above him. "It wasn't a fight, I think." He concluded slowly.

Iida accepted the statement with a silent nod. He could tell that he couldn't involve himself in the matter any further.

"Youth!" All Might's voice boomed, halting the students in their tracks.

"What's with all the 'youth' talk…" somebody whispered, but the voice was so low it was indiscernible to whom it belonged to.

All Might coughed nervously and turned around to face the children, hands on his hips, chest puffed out. All eyes were raised to meet his lowered ones. Or at least, the dark shadows of his eye sockets… *Ahem, anyway, moving on.

"Students! Your hero training is to be taken very seriously, as you already know. As your mentor, I will do my best to teach you. But what you learn also depends on you. Today's exercise if the first of many that will follow during this school year. However, I would like you to learn as much as you can from this introductory lesson, so please keep your eyes and ears open, and most importantly, your minds working." The two antennae of blond hair twitched on top of his head as if they were alive.

' _Alright!'_ Izuku screamed internally, his hands clenched into fists.

"Youth- Students!" All Might corrected "Students, I need you to stay here for a minute while I take care of some important business!"

' _Hu? What?'_ the green haired boy's smile faded a little. Eyebrows were raised around him, as everyone watched the number one hero trot away with confused eyes. Then, even more confusion ensued, at the notice of something purple stuck on All Might's left leg.

"Good job, Mineta my boy!"

"A-All Might! Go slower! I think I'm gonna- hmrhmph!" the boy put a hand over his mouth. His whole body was being shaken continuously at every step, churning the contents of his stomach. This was no fun.

"Hold on, Mineta my boy!"

All Might sprang in the air, at least ten meters high above.

"WUAAAHHH!" Mineta screamed and closed his eyes.

Then, everything came to an abrupt stop as All Might landed softly on the roof a building –where there always so many buildings around? Did they jump over the wall?

"We're here, Mineta my boy. You can get down now."

"I can't." he whimpered.

"It's safe now. We're not airborne."

"I can't! I'm stuck!"

"You… You're stuck…"

"I'm stuck!" Mineta cried.

Doubtfully, All Might grabbed the sum of purple blobs that were Mineta's hair and pulled… to no avail. He pulled harder. Nothing. There was no way to dislodge the purple things from his trousers.

"If you hadn't jumped so high, I wouldn't have gotten stuck! It scared me!" Mineta complained.

"Well, can't help it now… We'll just have to do with this, then."

"Why did you bring me here in the first place, All Might?"

"Listen well, Mineta my boy. I am here because of something very important."

"Important?"

"Yes." He nodded and turned to face the sun. But the gesture was not so cool because the sun got in Mineta's eye. Plus, Mineta was stuck on All Might's leg so he couldn't view the idol from behind.

"I have seen great good and great potential in you, Mineta."

"You have?"

"I believe you're going to make an excellent hero. You are already a hero, I think. You are the one I've been looking for…"

Mineta's eyes widened somewhat fearfully. "All Might, I'm a minor and I'm not interested in-"

"Not that of course!" All color was drained from All Might's face at his student's assumption. How… how embarrassing. And lame. He coughed loudly several times and straightened his tie. "Where were we? Oh, right. I have been looking for someone who would become a worthy successor. Someone who would become the next symbol of peace. And I found you. You have all the hero qualities, Mineta my boy! What do you say?"

"Me? Become a successor… to you? Symbol of peace?"

' _become the number one hero… become famous… surrounded by crowds of fan ladies?'_

"I have no idea what exactly you're saying but I agree!"

"Perfect!"

All Might plucked a blond, glistening hair from his antennae and stooped down to offer it to the boy.

"Eat this!"

Mineta stared at the hair blankly.

*whisper whisper whisper*

"What?"

*rushed whisper*

"Oh. Yeah, I know."

*frustrated whispering*

"What's that? It's not April 1st anymore?"

*frantic whispering*

"Yeah, I know, I know, but I had to do it, it was impossible to resist the urge!"

* * *

Heya, everyone! I'm still alive, thankfully. No, I haven't given up on this fic. I've just been having some difficulty writing it so I took a little break. I'll update soon. I just hope my writing's not very rusty... Often when I take long breaks my chapters end up being smaller and the mood a bit inconsistent. I'll re-read everything I've written up to this point to avoid most of that.

I'm sorry about this chapter, I couldn't control myself! In fact, I've been smirking ever since forty minutes ago when I started writing this April fools thingy! I've never done an April Fools joke before. The idea hit me when I said something along the lines of "wouldn't it be hilarious if Mineta received One for All", does that count as foreshadowing? Anyway, I'M SORRY BUT IT WAS HILARIOUS, THANK YOU FOR ALLOWING THIS!

Like, really... Thank you so much, everyone! Even though I was gone, so many of you followed and reviewed and checked on this fic regularly (I can see the stats)

The hiatus will end before the end of this month. Until then, enjoy the warmer breezes of spring- or the coolest ones, depending on your hemisphere.

 _Deku Bread!_


End file.
